Chapter 9
Today was a big day for Patrick Mertz, he was going to accompany the European ministers on this diplomatic mission and if everything went right he would end up as the German Ambassador in the Kingdom of the North, or the head of the German consulate in Winterfell. Patrick and the other diplomats were still unsure how to handle the unique way in which Westeros was governed, which reminded him most of the chaotic mess that was the Holy Roman Empire.
During the last few days, he had participated in more first contact missions. Patrick had now visited most of the villages on the so-called Stony Shore, but it didn't always go so well. One time, all villagers fled their homes and ran into the nearby hills, likely spooked by the helicopters. Another time some hunters tried to shoot arrows at the helicopters. In the first case, they dropped the aid packages with a letter in the hope that someone in the village was literate and in the second case they decided to just abandon the mission.
The world at large was slowly coming to terms with the fact that they were now linked to a complete alien world. The EU has released videos to the general public covering some of their interactions with the natives and observations of the environment there, in addition to those made by the scientists on the other side. These videos and the information within were the main topic of practically all news stations around the world.
The sudden appearance of the portal caused an enormous influx of tourists who wanted to see the alien object and the world beyond in the rather sparsely inhabited northern part of Germany and the Netherlands. And soon, in a hundred kilometer radius around the portal, there was no room left unrented for the next few months.
The frame of the portal itself would have made a popular tourist attraction on its own, being a few hundred meters wide, almost perfectly round mirror on one side. It was so large that it was still perfectly visible behind the 6 kilometer wide buffer zone that was created by the military.
Patrick entered one of the helicopters together with the rest of the diplomatic party, which included the ministers of foreign affairs of not only Germany and the Netherlands, but also multiple other EU countries. There were also more prospective ambassadors like him, along with some interpreters, assistants and of course the military escort.
When the helicopter went through the portal, Patrick started thinking about the letter send in the name of his government. He hoped the native Lord had at least read the letter and not burned it on the suspicion of witchcraft. Even then, the letter was a risky move. In the worst case, the locals would condemn them as witches directly after reading their letter and attack them on sight. However, this letter and the books would enable the natives to at least get a basic understanding of how their societies work and how it developed. It would hopefully also show them that it would be futile to attack their nations, saving the lives of the would-be attackers.
Patrick had heard mostly good things about Lord Stark from the local population. He was taking a fair amount of taxes from them and mostly left them to their own devices. Therefore, Patrick had hope that at least the worst case scenario wouldn't come to pass. It also helped that the locals didn't seem to view the unknown as something bad, meaning that in the likely case where they would be mistaken for sorcerers, the people wouldn't immediately try to kill them out of fear.
As he looked outside he still couldn't help but be amazed at the enormous amount of barely cultivated land around them, even though he had already visited this land multiple times. He saw the plains, rivers, hills, forests and mountains that made up the Stony shore. There were a few small villages and individual farms scattered around the area, but it was mostly wild unclaimed land.
"So, Patrick, are you happy to be assigned as an ambassador here?" said the German minister of foreign affairs who had seated himself next to Patrick while he was distracted.
"Yes mister Heisenberg, I have wanted to become an ambassador myself for a long time so I'm very happy with this opportunity. I'm honored that I might be the first German ambassador in this new world."
"I have heard that you have already made contact with some of the natives here. What was your opinion on them, and do you know of any cultural differences I have to watch out for to prevent me from accidently ruining the negotiations?"
"Most of the native villagers I encountered were rather polite. It also seems that it is part of their culture to be a generous host and not harm their guests in any way, which is fortunate for us. Additionally, they seem to worship a special kind of tree, called a Weirwood Tree, near which they pray. The villagers did seem to be rather insular though, not having a good opinion of people in either the southern part of the Seven Kingdoms or those north of the border, which they call wildlings."
For the rest of the ride, Patrick and the minister continued to talk about the natives and the other world in general. After the helicopter passed the mountains, the terrain changed into an enormous forest, which looked similar to the Russian taiga. The taiga was almost all that they saw for the second half of the ride, until the forest gave away to patches of farmland. Then an enormous fortress came into view. Although they had seen it before on the pictures made by the drone, it still looked amazing to them. The fortress looked extremely ancient and was larger than most of the mediaeval European castles. It was still in a mostly fine condition, although one of the towers of the keep seemed to have fallen into disrepair.
The helicopters made way to the prearranged field. Patrick saw a large amount of people standing there, which implied that the locals had at least read the letter. Unfortunately, the landing helicopters seemed to incite panic into part of the natives who started to run away. The horses of some of the more well-dressed locals also started panicking and a few of them even threw off their rider. Patrick hoped that none of the locals were hurt, they should have included a warning in the letter about animals reacting negatively to the helicopter noise.
One military helicopter landed first on the open field. Immediately afterwards multiple soldiers walked out of the door to secure the landing space for the helicopters carrying the diplomats. Patrick saw some of the local guards unsheathing their swords, but fortunately they didn't attack. Once the ground forces had declared the area secure, the helicopter carrying Patrick descended and landed on the field.
As the doors opened, Patrick got a good view of the welcoming party, or what was left of it after the panic. Closest to them were a group of men who appeared to be guards for the comparatively well-dressed man and women behind them. They were holding banners depicting a wolf, a crowned stag and a lion. Their armor seemed to be comparable to what European soldiers wore in the high middle ages, which was of course strikingly different compared to the camouflage uniforms worn by the European soldiers.
Within the group of nobles, Patrick saw one rather fat man wearing a crown and assumed that he was the Lord Paramount Stark. Next to him stood a golden-haired women who was embracing a golden-haired boy protectively. Two smaller children were holding her dress while looking both scared and amazed at the helicopters.
To the other side of the Lord Paramount stood another, less frivolously dressed, nobleman. He was accompanied by his own wife and children. The oldest boy had a fearful, but calculating look. The oldest daughter was looking scared but was trying, and failing, to hide it. The youngest three children were watching the helicopters with looks of wonder and amazement, although the youngest boy was held protectively by his mother.
Seeing that they were not about to be attacked, the German minister of foreign affairs Linus Heisenberg walked towards the gathered nobles, followed by the other European ministers and diplomats.
Mr. Heisenberg, coming to the same conclusion as Patrick, walked towards the man with the crown and said: "Greetings, Lord Paramount Stark. My name is Linus Heisenberg, minister of foreign affairs of Germany. Me and my colleagues here hope to establish favorable relationships between our countries. We also hope you can contact your King on our behalf so that we can make similar arrangements with him."
The man, who Patrick assumed was Lord Stark, suddenly started laughing. Once he calmed down he said to his neighbor: "Ned, this is the first time in my live I have been mistaken for a Stark. Have I picked up your habit of looking serious and strict all the time?" He then turned to the minister: "You were talking to the wrong guy. My old friend here is Lord Stark, I am King Robert Baratheon, with more titles than I bother to remember. So you won't have to worry about Ned contacting his King. As for establishing relationships, you can discuss that with Ned. You claim to border his lands after all and he will soon be my Hand. That said, I do hope you brought more of those drinks. I would be interested to trade for them in the future."
"My apologies, King Baratheon, we did not know that you would be visiting Winterfell during our arrival. Our only information about this land comes from our planes and talks with the villagers on the Stony Shore. We are however very pleased to meet you and your family, and we did bring some more of our world's beverages with us to share during our stay here."
The person who was apparently the King said then in a somewhat more serious voice: "About those so-called planes of yours, Lord Heisenberg, are they all really metal contraptions and not flying creatures like those damned dragons? If so, I would very much like to ride one of them. Then I, Robert Baratheon, will accomplish what none of those Targaryens have done in centuries."
"King Baratheon, no flying creatures in our world exist that would be able to carry a person. All our flying machines are created from resources mined on our world and require a special kind of oil to fly. We have enough fuel to take a few of you on a small helicopter flight, so one quick trip can be arranged."
Mr. Heisenberg then proceeded to introduce the other ministers to the King and the other gathered nobles. These included the minister of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Belgium. Most of the natives looked visibly confused that so many representatives were gathered here in such a short time, which made sense considering traveling times in this world. When the Belgian minister was introduced, the confused looks intensified. The golden-haired boy then spoke: "You foreigners have women on your small councils? How is that possible?"
"Prince Baratheon, in our societies women have the same rights and opportunities as men do, so they can study and work the same jobs as men. The Chancellor of Germany and some other German ministers are also women, as are some members of our military escort."
After this explanation, most of the gathered nobles looked abashed. However, a small girl close to Lord Stark looked towards the soldiers with admiration and longing in her eyes.
After Mr. Heisenberg's introductions, the King introduced his family and the other nobles. The children with golden hair were confirmed to be his, and the golden-haired woman was his wife, Cersei Baratheon. There was also a small man standing in between the nobles, who was apparently the brother of the Queen. Patrick had not seen him earlier, due to his small stature, but he seemed intelligent and curious. However, when he was introduced, the Queen gave him a hateful look, apparently there was some tension within the Lannister family.
The small girl from earlier was apparently Arya Stark, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark, and she was surrounded by four siblings and her mother Catelyn Stark. The Stark siblings were accompanied by small dogs that looked surprisingly wolf like. They did seem agitated though, probably due to the helicopter noise. Patrick also spotted a white wolf-like dog further away, in between the normal citizens next to a teenager who looked suspiciously like Lord Stark.
Lord Stark then invited the diplomatic party into his keep for a welcoming feast, which was apparently the second feast in two days due to the King arriving in Winterfell yesterday. They were escorted by a group of guards who were looking confusedly at the European military escort. Patrick reasoned that this must be because the natives had not yet discovered gunpowder, leaving them unable to recognize the rifles and pistols the European soldiers were carrying. A few of them were also seemingly sizing up the female soldiers, which might cause trouble in the future.
The military escort for this diplomatic mission was supplied by Germany, as the EU had decided that one well-organized escort was more useful than multiple small escorts send by the individual states. The dream of a unified European army was still far away, even though some individual member states already had some cooperation going on between them. Examples of this included the Franco-German brigade and the German/Dutch corps. The escort, numbering a hundred soldiers, should be more than enough to defend the diplomatic party and bring them back in case the natives tried to backstab them. Patrick doubted that would happen, considering that the welcome went rather well when factoring in the culture shock the natives were going through. This was likely helped by the fact that the native culture seemed to hold hospitality sacred.
Patrick was awed by the enormous Winterfell Keep. He had visited some old castles in his home country, but none of them gave the feeling that they were in use. He saw a courtyard, which would normally be in use by the Winterfell man for sword sparring. When Patrick walked into the keep's dining hall, he saw a large number of servants at work, which made sense as the upkeep of such a castle and the preparation of the feast would require a lot of manpower. The high upkeep of a castle was the main reason that a lot of castles in Europe remained a ruin today instead of being reconstructed.
The diplomatic party was way larger than the locals had anticipated, owing to the large amount of EU member states who wanted to send along at least one diplomat for appearance sake. Therefore, only the ministers and high ranking diplomats were able to sit at the head table. The lower ranking diplomats like Patrick were forced to sit elsewhere. Patrick sat himself at a table filled with teenagers, next to an older boy who was sitting there apart from the rest. Just before Patrick sat down, he saw a familiar white dog eating a piece of meat between the boy's legs.
AN:
As always, thanks everyone who favourited/followed/reviewed my story! It took me a long while to make this chapter with me being stuck multiple times. I was surprised to hear from my proofreader that she liked this chapter and had found few mistakes, so it apparently didn't turn out as bad as I feared.
I think that I might be able to return to the 2 chapter per week schedule after either next weekend or the weekend after that. Additionally, I am removing the review responses of chapter 2 and 3 and will continue to do so with the review responses of any chapter except the newest 5 to keep the word count fair.