Sansa rushed in a swirl of skirts for the Maester's rooms. Her exhaustion fell from her as she hurried along the halls of her forebears to where the god's companion had woken. If she still prayed in truth she would have prayed for this man's recovery. His survival was what tied a god to her halls, to her cause. And if he woke but was not the same she could not risk the god's rage without an attempt to calm it.
She ignored the sound of Brienne's armor as she followed her. Instead she focused on the hallways ahead of her. Her footfalls echoed in the stone halls. And then she could see the light spilling out of the room set aside for patients of the Maester that needed serious care. She slowed her steps, carefully breathing so as not to pant, but her lungs burned all the same as she forced herself not to gasp. Her heart hammered as she took the last few paces with her shoulders back, and chin tipped upwards.
Sansa wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't what she found inside. It was clear the man couldn't have been awake long. He was upright, and whereas she had been able to control her panicked breathing he had not. His whole body shook as he panicked, air wheezing in and out of him. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, fingers trembling nearly violently. But it wasn't the MMaester trying to calm him. In fact Maester Wolkan was standing awkwardly to one side with a calming draught, but made no move to administer it.
Straddling the man was Daisy. She had pressed their foreheads together, one of her hands gripping the back of his neck. Her other hand had caught one of his and pressed it to her chest. She was taking careful, deep breaths, clearly intending to aid him in finding his own air. His free hand was scrabbling uselessly at her shoulder as he tried to get words out but none came.
"You're safe, I promise you're safe." Daisy's voice held authority and certainty to it as she spoke. It was firm, but not meant to travel. "Breathe. Come on, just follow me."
He was panicked but he clearly was trying to follow her instructions. And his breathing did start to slow. But not for long. He finally managed to get a solid grip on the fabric of her outer tunic, and the air out to get a single word out. "J-J-Jemma!?" He put so much of himself in that one word. It felt wrenched from his soul.
"Is alive and with friends." Daisy forced him to look into her eyes. "I promise, I couldn't get to both of you so I threw her to Enoch and grabbed you."
He seemed to nod against her, eyes closing. His breathing slowing painfully as he let his head rest against hers once more. "Right…...good…...that's….good."
"She's safe. I promise she's safe." Daisy murmured clearly, softening as his panic lost its terrified edge. "She's with Piper, Davis and Enoch. They'll protect her, though she can be plenty terrifying when she wants to be."
He nodded against her. And then they stayed like that as his breathing finally slowed to merely a slightly louder wheeze than typical. It had an air of intimacy to it as they essentially held onto each other like drowning men holding to a raft.
Sansa felt a pang at this, it wasn't something she should be seeing. With that thought she waved Brienne out of the doorway, and closed it behind her, leaving herself, Wolkan, the god and her companion as the only ones in the room. It also reassured her. For all else this god might be, she loved this human man. What sort of love it was didn't matter, only that she was clearly, truly and deeply capable of it.
The man's voice croaked as he spoke, a certain halting to his words that felt...unnatural. "What-what happened."
"Your stupid idea worked." Daisy's voice was soft. "You and Enoch found Jemma and I, you helped us and we did it. We changed fate and time itself. Which your theory time couldn't be changed because it was predetermined, only mostly not a thing." Her lips twitched up.
He frowned. "But how-how...I don't remember."
"You died." Daisy's grip on him tightened. "But it was a paradox. We were in the new timeline, but the you that died was from later. So we had to rescue you before you died again."
Sansa's eyes widened. She didn't understand, but she understood enough to know that what was being spoken of was great and terrible and likely beyond her comprehension.
Fitz shook his head, his hand leaving her shoulder to run through his hair. "But, uh….para-paradox."
"Exactly. If it wasn't for that we wouldn't have tried. We all know the cost of truly bringing the dead back. But this you hasn't died yet. And with the time change finding you was a bit of a road trip. Do you know how many star systems we had to travel to? You were one hard man to find."
He pulled back, her grip on him lessening. He blinked, seeming to realize where he was. His mouth opened but what came out was words stuck in his throat.
Daisy spoke softly, gripping one of his hands. "You've been unconscious since we arrived. Give it some time." She gave a self deprecating smile though. "We're in a castle if you can believe it. I haven't a clue where exactly we are, what realm or world this is. Figured once you're feeling better you can figure it out. I've made a deal with the local Lady here. We're safe till you're well enough to find a way to get us home."
"Right, I-I-I can d-d-do that." It was clear now that he had a stutter. Whether it was new or old was less clear.
Sansa glanced at Maester Wolkan. He seemed to take it as his cue. He shuffled forward, clearing his throat. "If I may, your Holiness?"
Daisy slid off of Fitz's lap with ease, though she settled on the bed beside him. "Please."
Fitz looked confused, his head whipping around towards Daisy.
"It's a bit like the Asgardians and the Vikings. They think I'm a god, but this is Wolkan, he's kind of a doctor." Daisy explained carefully.
He snorted at that, though he settled. "O-of course."
Wolkan carefully touched Fitz's wrist. "What do you feel?"
Sansa remained silent, she likely shouldn't be here. But she hadn't been asked to leave either. So she watched with a growing sense of relief as Maester Wolkan found the man Fitz to be weakened, but healthy. Her eyes caught Daisy's. Daisy looked so painfully grateful as she mouthed two words towards her. "Thank you."
/
Fitz felt fairly numb as he stared at Daisy. "Well t-that's a l-lot." His tongue felt more like his own after food and whilelistening to her explain what had happened in the last year and a half while sipping at what was hot watered down wine.
"No kidding, and this place is weird. I'm really hoping we just need to make a beacon so someone can come pick us up. Cause like frozen medieval hellscape." Daisy nodded in relief at not being alone.
He sipped his wine, falling on his ass when he'd tried to stand up, had at least convinced him to start on the issues at hand tomorrow, not tonight. "No electricity?" He frowned. "Do they even h-h-have clo-clo-clocks?"
"They still call stuff things like 'hour of the wolf' so I'm going to assume no. Also haven't seen one." Daisy wiggled her fingers. "I haven't gone nearly two months without touching a computer since I was five."
Fitz kind of wanted to cry. "Do they at least have wheels?"
"They have wheels." She elbowed him gently while rolling her eyes. "Dark ages, not cave people."
He hated asking it. "You're pos-positive, just us went through the portal?"
"I mean if you can call a portal device exploding a portal." Daisy replied voice thick with sarcasm. "But yeah, I'd have felt it if anyone else was in the weird singing tree."
Fitz really hated magic, it broke all the rules and was just the worst. "D-d-do you think their 'old gods' are real?"
"I mean probably sorta? I mean as real as Thor or blue angels turned out to be for us." Daisy made a sorta gesture with her hand before curling her fingers back around her warm mug of the wine.
He nodded. "So real enough we d-don't w-want to lie."
"Yup. Which I may have gone a bit overboard with the powers. I'm still figuring out what I can do even. Jemma was very creative when we stuck on the zephyr. Also the internal heating system broke and going back to earth early wouldn't have stopped us from turning a bit blue."
Fitz flushed. "Jemma and I are really married?"
"I was the maid of honor so you better believe it. There was crying." She smiled and it was of the mischievous variety. "I'll help you so you can propose first this time."
"F-f-fir-first? What do you mean first?" He spluttered, he'd been planning on asking Jemma for over a year now.
Fitz hated being weak, he hated having to recover. But infuriatingly he knew exactly how important and unavoidable it was. So he stayed in the weirdly lumpy bed with fur blankets. He had been awarded a wooden table of sorts to rest over his lap, as well as a quill, ink and paper. First things first he was going to need electricity. And a freezing country wouldn't look fondly on burning fuel for it. Not in the quantity he would need. So a bicycle electric generator it would be. Maybe some form of hydro-damn technology to store the energy? Thermodynamic cycles were a classic and promising option for storing excess power.
"Fuck." He stared at his hand. It was shaking slightly. Not a lot, but enough to make writing with a quill miserable. Quills….this was impossible. And that wasn't even taking into account the readings he was going to have to invent machinery to find just to establish where they were. He ran a hand through his hair.
Daisy set another bowl of hot broth on the bed table. "We have time and you just woke up."
"Jemma could be in danger! It's been too long already." He bit out.
She sighed, leaning against the wall by the fire. "She has a spaceship, a Chronicom, and two highly skilled agents. And because she's with the ship, SHIELD will know where to look for her if she fails to check in. After a year of flying through space looking for you, she isn't going to give up just because we're stuck here for a year."
"A year! We don't have a y-year?!" How the hell was she so calm about this?
Daisy rolled her eyes. "We're in the dark ages. You're a genius not a magician. And there's magic ice zombies I promised to help kill in exchange for the equipment you're going to be getting from them. And I doubt the army of magic ice zombies is the sort of enemy that dies in one confrontation."
"We n-n-need to get back to the team." He held back from pushing the point though.
She just stared at him. "From what threat? I mean space gangsters and rogue Chronicoms are the only real threats at the moment. It's not like the world is due for another apocalypse that I'm aware of. And even if it is, we're not getting back in time to help."
"How can you be...sat-satisfied with that?" His voice was snappish and he knew it.
Daisy pushed off the wall. "The last seven weeks desperatly waiting for you to wake up were an object lesson in how getting out of here is going to take time." She pulled on the heavy fur lined cloak she'd ripped off when she'd first arrived. "In the meantime, there's disgustingly heavy stuff to unload and I have minor super strength now. So I'm going to go help with that. And you need to rest." Her face softened. "I'll check on you around dawn."
"I...thanks." Fitz's eyes flicked back to his paper. He had work to do, he didn't have time to worry about whatever...well the fact he'd clearly stuck his foot in his mouth again.
She sighed. "I'm glad you're awake Fitz."
He didn't look up as she left the room.
/
Jon Snow dismounted his horse and strode through the Glover military encampment. Men didn't try to stop him, but there was alarm at the sight of Wildlings and knights of the Stormlands under a Stark banner. It was a small miracle he'd been allowed to approach. He spotted the Lord of Deepwood Motte. "Lord Glover."
Lord Glover looked him up and down. "You risk much bastard. The Boltons will come down on both our heads for this."
"Then it's a good thing the Boltons are dead." Jon replied.
Glover stared at him. "You expect me to believe those rumors?"
"I will swear to their truth." Jon was the son of Eddard Stark. His word was as good as could be had. "I was sent by my sister, Lady of Winterfell to assist with your Ironborn problem."
The Lord stared at him. "Lady Sansa married a Bolton."
"And she stabbed a Bolton." Jon replied without pause.
Glover let out a deep laugh. "Good for her. Fucker deserved it." He looked Jon up and down. "Leading your sister's armies then?"
"Aye, and we heard you could use one." Jon was just relieved the matter of who that army consisted of hadn't been brought up.
Glover waved him into the command tent. "Well we've worn the fuckers down, but getting through the gates is going to cost lives. The men on the ram will be sitting ducks."
"I have a giant." Jon replied as he entered the tent. His eyes immediately found the map with markers of troop positions and the Deepwood's defences. "The gate won't be a problem."
Glover made a pleased sound in the back of his throat. "Your giant have armor?"
"No, I've never seen a giant with armor." It was….how had that never occurred to him. None of the freefolk really had true armor. Oh, they had protection, but nothing like the steel and iron of the Seven Kingdoms. It was one of the reasons the Night's Watch had survived fighting them for so long.
Glover flicked his fingers, summoning one of his men. "We can find something for your giant. The defenders in my castle will make taking it costly, once we've taken the gates down. The Ironborn have had time to prepare themselves." His voice turned bitter with rage at the thought of invaders in his home.
"I've got wargs as well." Jon had found not being in charge had given him time to remember silly strategies he'd thought of with Robb as a boy. And then he'd promptly realized maybe they weren't so silly afterall. "We will have your home back for you by the morrow. You have my word."
Glover had a strange look, but laughed and slapped his shoulder. "Well, let's get on with it then. I aim to gut some Ironborn."
/
Daisy felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she helped move crates. Fitz was awake, he hadn't seemed...damaged. His speech more disjointed than usual, but it'd improved the longer he'd been awake. And if he was damaged, they'd deal with it. She set a crate into what she was fairly sure was the medieval equivalent into a wheelbarrow. Still wild to her she could lift something that heavy.
"Your Holiness, you know you don't have to help with this?" Hogg said carefully, sweat was streaming down his face.
She knew she was as sweaty as him. Her cloak long since discarded. "I know." She made sure her voice was clear and carried. "But how can I ask things of people I'm not willing to do myself? Besides I'm capable of helping, and if I wasn't I'd just be bored." Daisy smiled at the awed expression on his face. "I'm not Lady Stark who knows where all this goes and is running this place."
"But your companion awoke?" Hogg stared at her curiously.
Daisy nodded, a part of her aware of exactly where in this castle he was. "He doesn't need me to sleep. Or avoid sleeping on principle and try and figure out how to use a quill instead."
"He can't write?" Hogg made a sound of surprise.
She outright snorted. "He can write, it's your quills. They aren't what we use to write with where we're from. It's different." Daisy was going to have to figure out the whole quill thing soon. As it was her writing was a barely legible, blotty scrawl at the moment. Not that her handwriting had ever been more than a cramped scrawl, but still. The ink splatter was a problem. "So you're stuck with me helping."
"We'll get this done in no time for sure then!" Hogg grinned as he went back heaving a crate full of wine bottles out of one of the carts.
Daisy patted him on the back. "So why is this wine in bottles instead of barrels like the rest of it? I've been wondering."
Daisy hummed along happily as the men sang as they all worked. A few of the boys had good voices and were badgered with requests for particular favorites. By the time the sky had begun to lighten the men had seemed to relax enough for some more humorous tavern songs to come out.
She'd laughed outright at the one about a man who thought he'd charmed a lady only to find it'd been a donkey the entire time, her flowing hair its mane. At that it'd seemed to finally have gotten through their heads, after a month of effort, that she wasn't going to smite anyone for something stupid. And so as the sky brightened so did the men.
"Your Holiness!" One of the boys called. "Do you know any songs?"
Daisy ran through the list of music she had learned for team karaoke on the bus. It'd have to be something without too many modern terms. But she knew a few country songs thanks to Hunter. Besides, she'd gone undercover as a pop star wannabe for Coulson, amazing she might not be but she could certainly carry a tune. "Sure, not sure how similar any of them are to yours. But I can sing if you want me to."
"If ya would." The boy replied eagerly, his cheeks a slight pink.
She figured she couldn't go too wrong with the classics. So Jolene it was. Daisy took a breath and began to sing. By the third chorus the men joined in. It was freeing to just sing while working. It was…horrifying that working an all nighter, sweating in a frozen medieval hellscape as the sun rose, singing her heart out about a woman named Jolene stealing her man, while surrounded by men who believed that she was a god, was the least stressed she'd been in...years. Jesus Christ, that was a depressing thought. So she didn't think about it, and just grinned as she sang.
Daisy took a sip of the wine in the animal skin, which was wild, as she leaned against the wall. The last of the truly heavy cargo was out and one of the boys was trying, terribly, to flirt with her by telling her everything he knew about the old ruling family of Westeros. Only she paused as a particular fact dawned on her. "Wait, the Targaryens married siblings? Well damn, that'd explain the insanity."
"Huh?" Jessar looked at her in confusion. "Wha's that got to do with it?"
Daisy's nose wrinkled. "When people are too closely related it messes up the kids. Sanity stuff, disease, physical deformities. I mean Fitz or Jemma would be able to tell you why better, but it's not good dude. Super not good. Not to mention gross."
"Really?" The kid was staring at her in surprise.
She laughed. "Yes really. It happens with animals too, you know?"
"That is true." The kid, who'd sworn he was seventeen and definitely been lying about that, replied. "My Da had a brother who didn't breed his goats with anybody else's and every year the kids got weirder. One time, one of the kids was born with no eyes or mouth, just nostrils. Or another one was born with its insides outside and its outsides inside."
Daisy shivered at the thought of that. "Well that's disturbing. But yeah, that sounds like an inbreeding issue."
"Holiness." One of the men who'd been at Winterfell..Davith maybe? bowed as he approached. "Lady Stark requests your presence."
She pushed off the wall, screwing the top back on the wine skin, still weird those things were real and not just in Jemma's old historical movies. "Is she still in the great hall?"
"Yes your Holiness." He responded with a dip of his head in respect.
Daisy tossed the wine skin to Jessar. "Kid, I can tell when you're lying about your age." Her lips twitched up at the frozen expression on his face. "But good try." She walked past him towards the great hall. It was funny, the men and women respectfully moved out of her way. But there were smiles and warmth there now. It wasn't fear and terror. She'd at least managed that fine. Not completely, she doubted they'd ever properly forget the level of power she'd been showing. But they seemed to feel secure that she meant them no harm. And she'd take that. It was more than she got from the SHIELD newbies without having to break them in.