Ch2
Ranma Pov
I looked at the assembled crowd, but truth be told my thoughts were also elsewhere. My son and grandson might be dead, but I still had family left. My old home and life may be gone but that doesn't mean I can't build a new one. This is hardly the first time that such a thing happened where everything I knew was uprooted although only one of them did, I really had a chose in.
There was much to do to restore my family's former 'glory' and to prepare for the Others. The good thing was that I have decades to prepare for them. If I was given a warning a year before the Long Night began, I could have done multiple things to ensure the Livings victory. I could have tamed all the legendary beast in the world whether that be Dragons, Dire Wolves, Basilisks and other creatures or I could have created a golem army. I could have reshaped the landscape by replicating what the Children of the Forest did to the Arm of Dorne or the Neck, trapping the Others in the Land of Always Winter. However, we were given no warning when they came and with their speed since they didn't need food, sleep or anything else the Living needed, combined with the slowness of communication back then especially during winter they quickly overran everything above the Trident.
By the time I realized what was happening and what we were facing they had reached the modern borders of the Reach and possessed a gigantic army. I along with my entire household had to rush to the 'frontlines' to hold them back and allow the Living to organize. The same in Essos by the time we had heard they were there as well a good portion of Essos was overrun. All we could do was rush over there to stabilize the situation and organize the resistance. All we could do was react, no planning or preparing just reacting.
What made the Others and the wights so dangerous wasn't their near invulnerability to every weapon on the planet or their magic although it helped, it was their ability to always be on the initiative no matter what. A normal army has to worry about food, moral, fresh men, the state of weapons and replenishing them, money, disease, defending their homes and families, whether the area would be able to support your army, such as in deserts and a million other details. They have to strategize which targets are worth taking and holding, how much men and resources are they willing to lose to gain these goals. The Others never had to worry about that, it didn't matter what the area was like, they didn't eat, sleep, have families, places to protect or anything else a Living army had to worry about. They could just keep marching, they meet a fortress the wights simply form a ramp with their bodies and get inside. Attack a nation, they already overrun it before the King has time to gather an army or the necessary supplies to maintain it. Meet an army and they overwhelm it with sheer numbers and tenacity as the wights would never run away or worry about their own existence, they fight to the last man (if you could call them men) making even a victory against them costly and unlike in normal warfare where fighting generally weakens the victor as well thanks to casualties, they always grow stronger with every victory.
This time I had decades to prepare, this time the Living wouldn't suffer as much but first I had to deal with the current crisis. The lack of funds to pay for the lack of food, luckily that was going to be easy to deal with. Then to ensure that it wouldn't happen again I would make the land "Bloom".
Pov end
With the declaration made that they had work to do, Ranma walked away from the heart tree and to Cregan.
"Let's go to your solar so we can talk".
Cregan nodded and then gave everyone else a rather pointed look that had a clear message "Get back to work". The crowd quickly dispersed under their Lord's gaze although they would probably be talking about what happened for days. There would also be a marked increase in those visiting and praying in the godswood from that point on.
Cregan smiled at his children and patted them on the heads telling Rickon to go to his lessons, while he hugs his wife Alysanne while gingerly kissing his three daughters, Raya was less than a year old, Alys was a year old while his eldest daughter was only two.
Ranma also smiled at the affection between the family, her family even though she realized it would take time to integrate herself into it.
Ranma followed Cregan back to the Great Keep with Kennet also with them. With her strength back and no need to carry her they made it back fairly quickly. Soon they entered into the solar where they all sat down.
Cregan and Kennet seemed unsure on how to start the conversation or what to talk about.
So ranma started "The Old Gods showed me much and told me much, the North needs to become strong to repel the Others but that will take time. The first thing we need to do is deal with the food shortage we are going to find ourselves in soon".
Both men nodded at that.
"I presume you have some plan or perhaps a spell?" Kennet asked although he seemed unsure about the latter bit.
"There is no need for magic to solve this problem, although I will use some to ensure that we won't find ourselves in this situation again by introducing new crops and by making the land bloom" Ranma said.
They both looked confused, what new crops, how the problem was going to be solved and making the land "bloom"?
"Wait, to make the 'land bloom', like Garth Greenhand?" asked Cegan as he connected the dots, with Kennets face lighting up in realization.
"Indeed, Garth used a special ritual to improve the fertility of the land, allowing it to produce an abundance of food. Luckily, I was one of the few who know how to perform the ritual and probably the only one today who can" Ranma explained.
"That tells us how we are going to have enough food for next winter but how we will get enough food to survive to the next harvest?" Cregan asked.
"Tell me, how old and large is Winterfell?" Ranma asked amusement on her face.
"It's one of the oldest and largest castles in Westeros if not the world" Cregan answered again confused by the direction the conversation was going.
"How many secret passages and rooms do you think there would be in such an old and large castle" Ranma asked eyebrow raised, amusement still on her face.
Now that stumped them, they knew there were a few but rarely used and more seemed to fade into memory as time went on as they weren't needed. Winterfell itself hadn't been threatened or attacked directly in centuries not since the last Bolton Rebellion over 700 years ago and that was easily repulsed.
"There are probably many, but we know of very few, why is that important?" Kennet asked.
"Not all of them were intended as escape routes or places to hide or spy, several were created as secret vaults where Starks would hide heirlooms, books, magical artifacts, important documents and vast amounts of treasure" Ranma said emphasizing the word treasure.
Now that stunned both men, the thought that the source of their salvation was under their very noses was a bit much to take in.
"How many are there" Cregan asked still stunned by the information.
"Four, one in the Old Keep, two in the Great Keep and one in the Guard's Hall" Ranma answered.
This, this was beyond their wildest hopes and dreams, with such wealth they could buy the necessary food to feed the North until the first harvest and then with Ranma they may never need to buy food again. But first they needed to gain access to the vaults and catalogue what was in them since they had no exact details of what was in them.
"Can you show us these vaults starting with the ones in the Great Keep?" Cregan asked and despite his best effort a little of his desperation was in his voice.
"Of course," Ranma laughed, she got up went to a bookcase that had been there for who knew how long and started pushing it.
Both men were astounded at the strength she showed, the bookcase combined with all of the books on it must have weighed ten men in armor, yet she was pushing it aside with one hand and was clearly not trying.
Their astonishment grew when behind the bookcase was an old iron door that looked fairly rusty with the Stark Direwolf in the center. Cregan especially, he had probably spent hours of his life in this room since becoming Lord Paramount and he had never suspected that there was a door behind the bookcase.
Ranma who was clearly enjoying their expressions asked, "Should I break the door down or would you like to use the keys?"
"Keys, what keys?" Cregan asked a bit dumbly since he was still trying to process what was going on.
"The keys to Winterfell that you have on your belt" Ranma said as if it was obvious.
Cregan took the keys from his belt and raised them in his hand and looked at them. There were many keys on it and a good portion he admitted to himself he didn't know what they opened but the fact that at least four of the unknown keys would open the four vaults made sense. The keys were always given to the Stark in Winterfell, whether that be the Lord or the acting Lord that was appointed in their place if they had to leave Winterfell.
Cregan got up and walked to the door along with Kennet. It took several attempts, but they found the right key and opened the door which definitely needed replacing and walked down the passageway.
"It's very dusty" Ranma casually said although both men had the sneaking suspicion, she was laughing at them. As the passageway got darker Ranma lifted up her hand and a blue ball of light appeared in the palm acting like a torch. Although they were surprised by this, they didn't say anything as they had seen her glow numerous times already and this was very tame compared to those times.
At the end of the passageway in a large room was a site that took both men's breath away. Along one wall was a bookcase containing what was obviously old books, on the other side was a wall containing many documents wrapped up into cylinders with seals on them. At the back in a glass case that was inscribed with runes was various items, some were weapons, some were quills, some were cups. There were numerous items behind the glass case and both men knew instantly that the objects in it were magical in nature. However, in the center of the room like a dragon hoard from some fairytale was a small mountain of wealth, gold, silver and many types of jewels. Many were in coins, some in goblets, plates and numerous other forms of metal artwork.
"My Gods, there must be over a million dragons worth of treasure in this room alone" Kennet said as soon as his mouth began to work again.
"Yes, this is the smallest of the vaults since it was the one the Starks used personally rather than the entire North" Ranma said.
Both froze and then slowly turned to her and you could swear you could hear them creak like the rusty door they had just entered.
"Thhhe smallest?!" Cregan almost shouted looking like he was on the verge of fainting and Kennet wasn't that far behind.
"Yes, would you like to organize this vault first or see the others?" an impish grin on Ranma's face that many rivals knew meant she came up with something that made them look stupid or weak.
Both looked at each other and then around them. They really wanted to see the other vaults, but this room alone had enough wealth to fulfil their needs and it would take months to go through all the documents and books and neither of them were qualified to deal with the magical artifacts although Ranma certainly was.
Turning back to Ranma "We will organize this vault, but we do want to see the other vaults if only to reduce the shock in our second visit" Cregan said with Kennet nodding very animatedly beside him.
They left the room locking the door behind them and Ranma putting the bookcase back to where it was, hiding the door. They then left the solar to go to the second vault. Which was located in an unremarkable hallway near the throne room. Ranma simply pulled down a torch holder and the wall beside it began to move, revealing another door exactly like the one in the solar. They were less shocked since they were expecting this but still mildly shocked.
Using another of the keys they entered.
"Close and lock the door behind us" Ranma suddenly said. Both men were surprised but Cregan followed her instructions with her becoming a living torch again. Immediately they heard a noise as the wall moved back into place hiding the door from any possible passing servant.
"Don't worry all we have to do once we want to leave is unlock the door and pull this lever" Ranma said pointing at a lever, they nodded and continued.
The room at the end of the passageway was exactly like the one in the solar with two exceptions. One it was a lot bigger, by about three times, containing more objects and wealth, secondly there was a throne in the room. It was unusual and had both Cregan and Kennet staring at it, it looked like it was made of ice.
"The original Throne of Winter" Ranma simply said.
"What, the Throne of Winter is in the Throne room, the Weirwood Throne I sat upon" Cregan exclaimed, while Kennet seemed to be unsure what to say, probably realizing that he might as well accept that everything he knew was going to be upended.
"It is but I said this was the original, the first one" Ranma explained.
"The first one? Why is it here?" Cregan said slightly mollified by the explanation.
"Several reasons, tell me did you think the title of Kings of Winter was just a fancy title the Starks made for themselves as they ruled the coldest of the Seven Kingdoms? Or do you think there was a more literal reason for the title?" Ranma asked, eyebrow raised.
"Before today I would have gone with the first option but now, I think I would have to go with the second" Cregan said with a sheepish voice.
"Your correct, the stories you heard as a child of Starks creating blizzards were once true. We Starks have been masters of ice magic since my time, creating blizzards, freezing our enemies or creating ice golems" Ranma explained and with her free hand created several icicles that floated above her hand to the fascination of the two.
Ranma thought back, back when she was still a man or a half man. It was just after she got the phoenix pill, she had no recollection of the fight as she was using the Cat Fist, but she was told afterwards that Cologne created an ice bear. An ice bear that moved, attacked and even roared like a living bear but in reality, it was created in few second by the Old Ghoul and a puppet completely under her control. She had tried to replicate the feat using ki but it was impossible, it was only after learning the soul of ice did, she begin to have some success. She was able to create the body of the creature manipulating ice and snow using the soul of ice in its extreme form but was unable to move it like the Old Ghoul. She made ice sculptures of bears, birds, dragons, men and all sort of creatures and forms but they never moved. It wasn't till she began to learn magic that the gaps were filled and was able to do it. It was her first discovery of mixing ki and magic, but it certainly wasn't the last.
Pointing at the throne after removing the ice in her hand "This Throne helped our ice magic, magic can only be done in a certain radius around the user, the more powerful the user or more users the further the range of the magic. This rule is true for all, whether it be me, the Gods, mortal magicians or even the Others, they can't send spells outside a certain distance."
Both men nodded at the explanation and in reality, they were glad magic had some limits and rules that governed it.
"You can increase the range by working with others or doing certain rituals, which act like bows to the magic" Ranma continued
"The Throne of Winter acted like a ballista or catapult increasing the range of our ice magic beyond any mere ritual or a hundred ordinary magic users. My son Brandon could if there was already heavy snow in the area create a blizzard ten miles away, although he would collapse from the effort, sitting on the Throne turns that number into a thousand miles. The Throne also acts like a spyglass allowing us to see everything in that thousand-mile radius, we can't see through or into things like tents or castles and we can't hear things but with this any army that dared come within its radius can be spotted and then wiped out in a snowstorm without wasting a single coin or life on our side" finishing the explanation.
Both look slightly horror filled at her and the Throne at the implications.
"Thats, that's cowardly and dishonorable" Cregan exclaimed clearly angry with the idea.
"Yes, it is and before you ask that wasn't built by me, or either of my Brandon's but Brandon V in his war against the Barrow Kings and was used only during his reign, his son locked it away. I don't mind the spyglass part of its magic, spying on enemy armies and movements is as old as war itself and is an essential part of it but its other ability. No, I can't agree with that." Ranma said her voice heating up slightly.
Cregan calmed down as he realized she had no part in its creation and wasn't happy about it either and she agreed with her regarding using it to find the enemy.
"You said it was only used during Brandon V reign, could you tell us why?" Kennet asked, clearly curious.
"Kennet can you read the runes on it?" Ranma replied answering a question with a question.
Indeed, on the Throne of Winter were runes about where the head of a person would be if you sat on it.
"Hmmm, Thou must be of wolfsblood or... fall, that's it, thou must be... worthy or fade" Kennet translated.
"Translated into modern terms it means if you don't have Stark's blood in your veins you will die if you sit on the Throne and if you are a Stark but aren't worthy you will go mad. The problem was in the second line, Brandon's V eldest son and heir wasn't worthy. It didn't mean he was evil or incompetent but that he didn't meet the high standards that his father placed on the Throne to judge the persons worthiness driving him mad. The second son Rickard III was worthy but seeing what the Throne did to his eldest brother who he had loved, he had it locked away and any and all records of it destroyed" as Ranma told the story both faces changed with revulsion and understanding, no wonder the Throne was locked away and forgotten about. It also served to remind them, that magic wasn't just helpful but also dangerous, even to the people it was supposed to help, truly a handle less sword as it was occasionally referred to as.
They took one look around the room and realized while it would take months to go through the vault in the solar in detail, it would take a lot longer to go through this vault let alone all of them.
"We will need more help if we want to go through the vaults in any level of detail and not many know how to read and probably several are written in the Old Tongue and less know how to read that" Kennet said with a sigh.
"Yes, and unfortunately my power won't help us get through this any faster, I can create illusions of myself but not physical copies that can actually do anything" Ranma said.
"Thats unfortunate but really illusions?" Kennet asked.
"Yes, I learned it under Prince Toma, who created illusions so real that they actually hurt. I remember the first time we fought, he created an illusion fire that hurt like the real thing although I received no actual damage" Ranma explained giving away more of her mysterious past.
The thought of illusions that could be that real seemed impossible to the two men after all illusions were supposed to be fake but Ranma had no reason to lie.
They left the room. Now Cregans hope in the future in the North was restored, with just these two rooms the Stark's had just become one of the wealthiest families in Westeros, with all four only a handful of Houses would possess more wealth than them, but they must spend it wisely with thoughts of the future.
They went to the Guard's Hall as that was closer than the Old Keep. Cregan thought of the locations, it made sense where the vaults were located. Clearly the one in the Old Keep was the original vault, then when the Stark's moved to the Great Keep they needed new ones. The one in the solar was the personal vault of the Stark's, where the one near the Throne Room was the main one. While the one in the Guard's Hall was probably placed there for two reasons, having the vaults all in the same place is stupid and secondly whoever wanted to get into the vault would have to get past many of Winterfell's guards, it had a natural defense.
The vault was located in the basement of the building, it was behind and Cregan couldn't believe this a load of firewood that was usually stored here. It looked like an ordinary wall except for a Stark Direwolf symbol on the wall. It turned out to open it, they had to insert the right key into the eye of the wolf, the entrance of the vault was hiding in plain sight.
"Welcome to the room of spoils" Ranma declared.
At the end of the room were lines upon lines of crowns, gold crowns, wood, silver, iron, bronze, some had runes etched on them, others jewels. Some had creatures on the side like wolves, bears, krakens, giants, trees and many other symbols. Some had no points on them others had many, these were the crowns that the Stark's had captured over their 8000 years as Kings of the North.
Cregan stood in awe in front of proof of his ancestors' achievements and couldn't help but feel a bit inadequate.
"Here you will find the spoils of war from my son Brandon to many generations after him, most notably Theon the Hungry Wolf" Ranma explained, pointing at a seven-point crown filled with white jewels that made the crown glow in the light.
"Thaaat, that can't be, it couldn't possibly be?" Kennet stuttered, as he seemed to recognize it.
"Yes, it is, the crown of Hugor of the Hill forged by the seven, taken from his resting place when Theon raided Andalos and over there is the only original copy of The Seven-Pointed Star left in the world" pointing at a book in the bookcase.
"Buts it's only a third of the size of The Seven-Pointed Star used by the septons at the Starry Sept" Kennet said, as a Maester in Oldtown he had seen more than one copy of the book and even read one for a while.
"Yes, but as a Maester you must know how things change over the course of time, especially to fit the views of the person writing it" Ranma said.
Both men nodded at that since yes, they knew it was true, history constantly changed to fit the view of those in power and began to look around. There were less magical items, documents and books in this room compared to the others but much more treasure and lots of weapons taken from their enemies.
Now it was time for the final Vault the oldest one in the Old Keep.
The First Keep is a squad and round drum tower, that was fairly tall. It is decorated with gargoyles. In the fortress's shadow is an ancient graveyard containing the graves of servants for the Kings of Winter. It was once the residence of the Stark's but now it was an empty building that was occasionally used as storage.
Ranma looked at the building that her grandson had designed, built and raised his family in and felt longing, wishing she could be there to see to women who had stolen her grandchild's heart and be there for her greatgrandchildren. She knew it wasn't the original as the Bolton's launched a successful raid that burned the place down, while later Stark's added or renovated the building, but she knew it was her grandsons' home and that was all that mattered. They opened the door but both men stayed quiet as they saw in Ranma's eyes the sadness and longing in them and realized what she was thinking about.
They silently and slowly made their wat through the building, with Ranma taking in the sites. Finally, they made their way to the Old Throne Room and stopped where the Throne would have been. There was no keyhole, or anything you could pull that would have opened a secret room and Cregan and Kennet were confused.
"This vault can't be opened with an ordinary key, it can only be opened if it recognizes the signature of the person" said Ranma breaking the silence, she lifted her hand and place it on the wall. Her hand glowed blue and then invisible runes appeared glowing blue as well, forming a circle that began to move.
Then the wall began to open, with two halves sliding back and then sideways revealing the passageway for the vault.
Ranma turned to look at the two men "The Old Gods revealed to me the content of what was in the other vaults but didn't reveal to me what was in this one for some reason".
This created a sense of unease, why would the Old Gods not reveal what was within this vault?
They entered and felt a sense of time, all the vaults were old with a sense of being old but this one felt ancient like time itself was here.
They entered the room, like the others there were treasure, books, documents but several other things as well.
"Thhaats, my sons' sword" Ranma said, shakily pointing her finger at a sword covered in runes but to the two men they had never seen a sword designed like this before. It was a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. A katana that she herself had forged for her son.
In fact, she recognized all the weapons and armor in the vault, they belonged to dear friends and her students who she saw at minimum nephews and nieces but mostly as sons and daughters. All around her was memories, painting of people she recognized, sculptures and many other pieces of artwork that she recognized or at least the style of them making it fairly obvious who made them. But what made her collapse on her knees and cry was a picture of her with her son and grandson smiling, with a view of the sea from their home. With a very clear message written beneath it "We love and miss you".
Cregan in an impulsive move kneeled and hugged her. For several minutes that was the sight, a woman crying over all she had lost, a man trying to comfort her while another man stood awkwardly to the side unsure what to do other than not to interrupt them.
"Thank you" Ranma whispered beginning to fight back the tears. She always could feel emotions easier as a female, but she also learned long ago that holding in emotions wasn't good for one's mental health, plus with her immortality she learned to enjoy the precious time she had with people enjoying it in the fullest. She long ago threw away Genma's brainwashing from her childhood, about everything, education, woman, manners, apologizing and thanking and eating, the Tendo's would certainly be surprised that she could now eat at less than whirlwind speed. She refused to refer to the stupid Panda as her father.
It took several more minutes to calm herself down, she now knew why the Old Gods didn't tell her what was in this room, as she would probably be unable to enter, unwilling to face what she had lost.
"Look there is another door" Kennet said.
They turned in the direction Kennet was looking and indeed there was a door made of weirwood and covered in runes.
"I'm not sure what is behind that door, but those runes are seals designed to keep evil spirits or auras from exiting it" Ranma said glaring at the door. Both men turned grim faced and looked at the door.
"Is it dangerous?" Cregan asked drawing Ice.
"I don't think so, I can't sense anything alive, or spirits in the room, just dormant and dead magic" Ranma said her eyes now glowing.
"Should we see what is in it?" Kennet asked although uncomfortable with the idea.
"Yes, but I will enter first" Ranma said and walked up to the door, which was unlocked the same way the vault was.
She entered the room slowly and cautiously, her sensed honed, just because she was perhaps the single most powerful being that lived on the planet full time didn't mean she had to be stupid about it.
The room was fairly large though smaller than the vault she just exited, along the walls, ceiling and floor was more runes like the ones on the door. In the center of the room was several stone slabs but it was what was on those slabs that made her stop for a moment.
"You can come in, its safe" Ranma called back.
Cregan and Kennet entered although Cregan didn't sheathe Ice.
"What's that" Kennet asked looking at what was on the slabs of stone.
"That is the weapons and corpse of an Other" Ranma snarled.
Both men froze and then stared more intently at an ice spear, an ice sword and many small shards of ice that was placed within an outline of a human on the largest stone slab.
"That the corpse of an Other?" Cregan asked with a voice like ice.
"Yes, when an Other is killed they shatter into many pieces like an ordinary block of ice" Ranma said stilling glaring at the pieces.
"But why is it here?" Cregan asked his voice still icy.
Strangely it was Kennet who answered "Its proof, Brandon probably figured that the Others wouldn't come for many generations and men may have forgotten them. This was probably used to show his descendants that Others did exist and could become a threat again, to always be wary of what was North of the Wall".
Ranma and Cregan looked at each other and then nodded, it made sense.
"A pity that all that we found was forgotten but it may have been a disaster that this was forgotten" Cregan said, sounding like he failed and slightly depressed.
Ranma then grabbed Cregan and stared directly into his eyes "This isn't your fault, it wasn't you, your father or even your grandfather that forgot all this, you can't change the past, but you can change the future. Use what you have rediscovered to prepare and to ensure that the North and the Stark's would be able to stand for another 8000 years whether that be from the Others, the Lords in the South or the Gods themselves. Use this chance!"
That seemed to get Cregan attention, and his face and eyes were now filled with purpose as he realized she was right.
"Now it seems I must thank you" Cregan said amusement in his tone.
"Well, I always want to get the last word in" Ranma said also slightly amused.
They then left the room and locked the door the tense atmosphere they had before they entered the room was now dissipated. They then left and closed the vault, Ranma knew she would have to go back into it again no matter how much she didn't like it, but she wouldn't run away from it.
Exiting the Old Keep she looked around, she then turned to Cregan "Can we go to the Crypts so I can see my descendants?". The unspoken statement that she wanted to see her grandson was also there.
Cregan thought about it for a few seconds but then nodded his acquiescence also wanting to see the tomb of his famous ancestor.
They headed to the entrance of the crypts which wasn't that far away since the entrance was in the Old Bailey where they were at. Down they went Ranma lighting the way. They walked slowly as Ranma looked at all her descendants, her family, wishing that she could be there with them, although she truly felt old looking at the long lines of tombs.
After an unknown amount of time, they reached the cave-in. Both Cregan and Kennet stood back interested in seeing how Ranma would deal with it. Ranma stood in front of the rubble and began chanting, both men heard noise and then before their eyes the rocks began to recede into the walls like a curtain opening. Soon the path was open.
Ranma stopped chanting and then turned to look at them "We won't need to worry about another cave-in as the rocks and soil that once blocked the way are now infused with the wall reinforcing them".
They continued now looking upon tombs that hadn't been seen since the cave-in. They continued on slowly as Ranma continued to try and memorize all those who were buried here but they finally came to the end.
There were two tombs, both having statues of their likeness in front of them just like the rest of the Stark's and on their tombs in the Old Tongue was their names.
Brandon the Bloody Blade, the defeater of armies.
Brandon the builder, first Lord and founder of Winterfell.
"They're both here" Ranma said quietly, walking slowly up to the tombs like she was afraid they would disappear on her.
"We will leave you here" Cregan said and giving a pointed look to Kennet since he knew his old friend would usually spend days researching the tombs of the fabled members of his family, but they could always do that later. Right now, they should let a mother and grandmother mourn. They moved away still within the light Ranma created but still a big distance away, they then turned their backs to allow her privacy.
The amount of time they had their back turned was unknown but eventually they heard footsteps coming and turned around. Ranma was there and while she didn't say anything, the look in her eyes and face was clearly thankful.
They then began to leave, the journey to exit was a lot faster as Ranma wasn't stopping beside every tomb but the two men had one more surprise before they exited the tomb.
At a seemingly random point on their journey back to the surface Ranma stopped and then went into a cave, one of many that had formed over the years in the Crypt and came back holding what seemed to be four colored stones.
They were both confused and stared at the stones then a click could be heard in their minds as they started to recognize the stones, one from books in the Citadel and one from personal experience in King's Landing.
"Those, those are Dragon eggs!" they both shouted.
"Yes, they are, do you want to hatch them?" Ranma said calmly with her face also calm but her eyes were clearly laughing.
"What" they both shouted.