Disclaimer:

Mr. M, Mrs. J.K., Your puppets work well together, I will keep playing with them for a while… for free of course.

Previous:

The wives did some business and trade agreements. The next day we left for Winterfell.

12 The Night King stirs.

Our flight to Winterfell removed the depressing feeling we got in the Dreadfort, I explained Ramsey Snow and my solution to the girls. Although I have to watch my words with so many kids around.

We arrived before noon, landing in front of the gates was creating quite the spectacle. By now, we knew the routine already, waiting for the Lords and family to scrape their courage together, and to greet us. We made a grand sight with our dragons behind us, they were waiting patiently for the tent and their sandpit.

Lord Stark welcomed us with his wife and kids Rob 8, Sansa 6, and two-year-old Arya: "Lord Greengrass, we welcome you and yours to Winterfell, share bread and salt with me, be our honored guests."

I smiled: "Thank you for this warm welcome Lord Stark. May I present my wives and wards: Ladies Astoria, Obara, Nymeria, Tyene, Lucinda Greengrass, my lovely wives. Margaery Tyrell, Sybil Flint, Justin Porther, Berena Glover, and Jorelle Mormont our wards."

Lord Stark raised his eyebrow and asked: "So many wards? Is there a reason? It takes a lot of your time raising and teaching them."

Astoria answered: "We admit it got out of hand. We made a trade agreement with Lady Olenna, one of the conditions was fostering and educating Lady Margaery. My sister wives took a liking to Lady Margaery and to teaching, when Lady Flint asked the same for her Sybil, Nymeria instantly agreed.

Justin Porther was accepted by my husband, as he said: our names are very much alike.

We could not refuse the others, we set the precedent, so we gladly accepted them. They are smart students and eager to learn."

Lady Stark said condescendingly: "What can young children like yourself teach other children. You are barely old enough to get married."

Margaery answered: "I doubt that your children will get the same education as us Lady Stark. I already can read, write, and speak high Valyrian, the First men's old Tongue, and the common language. We know our numbers and history. I thank the Seven each day for this opportunity. Flying on dragons alone is worth it."

Good speech Margaery, I like her more already. I said: "Is it alright if we set the tent outside the keep? It is quite big, and our dragons want to rest." The tent went up, and our dragons took a nap after getting brushed down by the kids. The Starks got the tour of the tent, it shut Lady Stark up, she didn't view us as little kids anymore when I boasted it was the wives that designed and created the 'Portable Palace'.

I followed Lord Stark to his Solar, he started the talk: "You came a long way for a little boy from the Riverlands young Harry Potter"

I shrugged: "If opportunities come up, you need to grab them Lord Stark, but you are right, I came a long way for a boy from the teats, it is best you don't treat me as such anymore."

Lord Stark asked: "Your purpose in the North is just for trade? No alternate goals or motives?"

I grinned: "My purpose is to have fun, my wives are having fun exploring Westeros and setting trade posts up, recently they started collecting children to foster. I guess they saw themselves in those kids. Trust me, in five years they will become the pillars of this nation."

Lord stark asked to be sure: "Five years? Most won't even be fifteen by then!"

I looked him in the eye: "In five years they will know more than all the Maesters put together. But I have another reason for my tour, Magic is corrupted in this world. It is changed from natural magic to sacrificial magic. And the reason lies beyond the wall. I want to visit your library to search for clues if you allow it."

Stark said: "That is a serious statement, do you know enough of magic to come to this conclusion?"

I nodded: "The Warlocks from Qarth sacrifice children to siphon their powers, The Red Priests sacrifice humans to gain fire and shadow magic. There is something beyond the wall that is erecting corpses to form an army. These are the current threats. All sacrificial magic."

Stark asked: "Did you witness this yourself? I need proof before I can do something about it."

Answering this will be hard… Meh, I'll bullshit through it all: "We set a trading post a few miles north of South tower, even there I felt clearly death magic corrupting the land. There is a terrible powerful demon gaining in power." Conspiracy theory NR 2!

Bullshitting Maxed out

It had to happen one day, I can live with it. It will probably reset the next level anyway. I did get access to the library from Lord Stark.

The next item was a bit delicate: "One more thing, I promised your sister that she and her son can visit Winterfell during our visit here if she can have your permission. So this is me asking permission in her stead."

Stark asked: "How will she get here from Dorne? Or are you planning to stay here for a couple of months?"

"Lord no! I'll send a message and the day after tomorrow she will arrive in my tent, where she will stay as my house guest. That will get your friend's feathers less ruffled."

Lord Stark sighed and said: "I would like very much to have a visit from Lyanna. You have my permission to invite here."

Concentrating, I focused on a message Patronus to Lyanna and send it away, I took my message book and contacted the storehouse manager to receive the portkey. Next, I created a two-way portkey and sent it to the warehouse.

All under the watchful eye of Lord Stark. He asked: "That is all it takes to get Lyanna here the day after tomorrow?" I put my book away and said: "The first thing was a message to Lady Lyanna, in my book I contacted my storehouse manager in Sunspear with instructions to arrange the event, the last one is the actual item that will do the transport."

We had lunch in the great hall, the kids mingled with the local children, happily telling stories about the dragons and flying high in the sky. After lunch they all went to the tent, Lucinda's Lady was a big hit, she liked the attention from the kids and was small enough to look cute. The guards and nannies were scared shitless by B&B, they took their parenting role seriously and kept a close eye on the adults.

Xxxxx

I spend the rest of the day in the library, adding Skill Books to my library. After dinner, I presented Lord Stark my evidence about the Others and the Night King.

"These passages in the Old Tongue clearly explain why the Wall was built. The Night King was not killed but defeated. He escaped heavily wounded, they searched him for decades. Finally, they decided to build the wall and guard it to prevent his return.

The Wall was built and maintained by magic, after a thousand years, people moved beyond the Wall. Most were deserters, criminals, or refugees from conflicts. It is with these people the night King is rebuilding his force. Each dead body that isn't cremated becomes an undead.

I feel he is almost strong enough to attack again. It is probably why I got these powers, to return magic to its original nature." It is obvious my Bullshit is maxed out, I keep on shoveling it and they believe me.

Lord Stark said: "I have to take your word for it, Lord Greengrass, I am not quite familiar with the old Tongue, I will have old Nan read it to verify your claims."

I shook my head: "You can't read or understand the language from the First Men? You are bloody the Lord of the First Men! Did they corrupt you so much in the Vale that you forgot your own roots? I hope you raise your kids as Starks from the North. Not kids from the Vale or Riverlands, or your people will revolt."

Lord Stark had to swallow that comment, knowing the truth from it: "You have a point, Lord Greengrass, I will arrange teachers to raise them in the old ways."

Manipulation Maxed out

Great, another one. The next day we made the Men at Arms and the guards slack-jawed with our training routine. The kids were pummeling squires three and four years older, the wives handled two to one and won easily.

Lucinda got permission to train her Transfiguration on the Old Tower to restore it to its former glory. The only thing that didn't go well was the trade talks, Ned Stark was hopeless in business, and Catelyn Tully said: "Proper ladies do not involve themselves with merchants."

Obara shrugged and said: "Send a raven to Riverrun and ask your father to kill the idiots that taught you how to be a proper lady. You are responsible for the well-being of the North. The whole bloody country! Knowing economics defines the life and death of your people. What did they teach you? Needlepoint and gawking at knights? Discussing Jousts? Popping a few kids out as is your duty?"

Shaking her head she turned away and left a speechless lady.

Catelyn got angry and shouted: "What would a little girl like you know about ruling people?" Astoria interrupted: "No offense Lady Stark, ruling your people is making certain the economy of your country is healthy. It is making good trade agreements, overseeing the quality of life for your people. Lady Olenna is a very good ruler and a very clever trader. It shows with the wealth of her region.

The tour we are making is going to gain us more than what Winterfell earns on the same time span."

Without a word, Lady Stark turned around and left. Astoria said to our wards: "We can only point out their failures, it is up to them to do something about it. Most are just having a tantrum for being told off by kids."

Margaery commented: "They wouldn't if they saw you at Pyke island demolishing a castle in a few hours' time. I never look at a bunny the same way again." That got her hugs from them all. We ruined bunnies for Margaery.

Xxxxx

Lyanna portkey'd in with her little boy and a bunch of handmaidens, two cooks… Oberyn, and Ellaria with her daughter. Nymeria and Tyene went straight to their little sister while Obara dragged her dad to the practice field and totally trashed him.

Oberyn groaned when he picked himself from the floor: "Bloody fuck Harry! What are you feeding them?" I grinned at him: "Come, you better break bread and salt with the Starks before Nymeria and Tyene take you for a spin."

Meanwhile, Lyanna was hugging her brother and introducing her son: "Everyone, this boy here is my son Rhaegar Targaryen half brother of Rhaenys and Aegon Targaryen."

It was obvious Lady Stark had her knickers in a twist. Housing Lyanna's child outside Dorne was forbidden by the current King. Before she could comment Ned Stark broke bread and salt and led them inside.

That evening we found little Rhaegar in the sandpit, sleeping at Betsy's side. Sybil, Berena, and Jorelle were loudly complaining about the unfairness of being fireproof. I stopped them with: "He thinks it is unfair that you are flying with them, so let him have this for a few days." The girls looked ashamed, Sybil said: "Oh! We are sorry My Lord, we didn't think of that. We are having a wonderful time since we left home, and I guess we are getting a bit spoiled. We will do our best to assist the little Lord while he is here."

That evening the kids got a blanket that controls the temperature so they could sleep with the dragons too. Meh, even with a blanket, sand is not a comfy bed, two nights and the fun of it was gone, soon everyone was in their own beds.

Xxxxx

Lyanna stayed two weeks at Winterfell, a few days before departure she asked me for a meeting. Astoria and I met her in our office, after some small talk she came to the point.

She asked: "Lord Greengrass, that day at the Tower of Joy, you told me you saved me because of a memory. Elia said you came out of nowhere, she never met or saw you before, and you saved her with great risks for your own. The question is why? What memory is so important that you risk your life to save us?"

Astoria looked at me and said: "Tell her, if it goes bad it can be erased."

I sighed: "Lady Lyanna, you are familiar with our storage rings? There is a small dimension in the ring that is out of this world. The point is that it is a small use of Space Magic. We learned it from the real thing: the Multi-Verse. I am a traveler from another dimension, I visited several already. Many dimensions are practically copies of each other.

Each has its own world and history, with little changes. In each world, I can gain some companions that I can summon in my current world. Astoria is one of them. My previous world was the same as this one, only I was the older brother of Justin Porther, hosted in Deepwood Motte, a few years before the Tournament in Harrenhall.

I know the outline of the future of this world and can change it. You never eloped with Rhaegar there. I prevented it, you already know that he never loved you I suppose, you were just a naive girl he needed to fulfill a prophecy with.

In that world, we married, as my seventh wife. I saved you in this world because I loved her a lot, and I know my Lyanna is watching me. She became a companion that I can summon, although that ability is restricted in this world."

It was silent for five minutes while Lyanna was processing the story. I took my Pensive out and extracted some memories of the previous world. Astoria explained it to Lyanna and went in with her.

When they came out, Lyanna asked: "Queen? Ricard and Lily? She is me, but not me. It is confusing, what are your plans with me and Rhaegar? Elia and her children?"

Astoria said: "Let us first tell how the story would happen when we are not in it. You die at childbirth, Elia and her kids get brutally slaughtered. Ned takes your son to the North as his bastard. He gets no love from Lady Stark, only from his brothers and sister. At fifteen or sixteen he takes the Black, he gets betrayed, killed, and revived by a red priest.

Daenerys marries a Dothraki, Viserys dies crazy as a bat, Daenerys hatched three dragons she can hardly control.

The King dies and Westeros is at war, hundreds of thousands die, Daenerys does the same on the continent, carving a bloody path. A lot of other stuff happens but these are the outlines."

I added: "I already prevented a lot. Saving Elia and you, getting Viserys and Daenerys back home, dispose of Varys and Bealish, prevent the Iron Born war, and split the incest twins up."

I looked Lyanna in the eyes: "You are right, you are not my Lyanna, I saved you to honor her memory. You have almost the same personality, so I like you, but that is all."

Lyanna was conflicted, the memories from that other life looked so much better than this one. Finally, she asked: "What happens now?"

I shrugged: "In a few days you go back to Sunspear and live your life, raise your son, be happy, be sad, it is your life. What we were in another world means nothing in this one. We have no obligations to each other."

Silently she asked: "Can you help Rhaegar on the throne?"

Astoria interrupted: "No! Elia has Aegon that has more right on the throne than yours. And without dragons, you can't even hold that throne for long. Harry has no wish to be a King in this world and doesn't want to help one on the throne, no offense Lady Lyanna, the Targaryens don't deserve to rule in Westeros anymore. If you want purpose in your life, we can offer you a position in our trading company. We love to have a princess at our negotiation table, which raises our prestige and prices."

Xxxxx

She went home with a lot to think about. Trading with the Starks was depressing, after a demonstration of our wards with their languages and numbers, we agreed to foster Sansa when she reached eight years. in return, we got the rights of Moat Cailin and the lands surrounding it, on the condition we let one of our wards from the North rule it.

We continued our tour of the harbors, Ramsgate, Widow's Watch, White Harbor, each got a warehouse and trade agreements. We picked the last one up, Wynafryd Manderly, eldest daughter of Heir Wylis Manderly. With four from the West coast, there had to be one from the East coast. If I remember it right she was married off to a Frey, so she traded up in life.

Xxxxx

At Moat Cailin, we set up camp. It took four weeks to dig the channel, we ported several servants in for cooking and babysitting, so we could concentrate on the channel. When the connection between East and West was done, the castle got its turn, three weeks later she was completely renovated.

Tyrion got involved in the project, he did wonders at Salt City and Glass Town. I grinned and created a three-way port key for him, appointing him regent until Justin Porther is of age and marries one of the girls.

I said to Tyrion: "You are doing a great job Lord Tyrion, You are regent here to get this region started. There are women from the North in Salt City, try to get some of them here and start a city here. Every ship that passes through here needs to pay a toll except ours naturally. The City is warded, so is the harbor, the storehouses are full, the rest is up to you."

He looked wearily at me: "Three projects at the same time? Is this your way to keep me sober? It is working. To be sure, I have a free hand in regulating these three cities?"

I nodded: "Yep, do a good job and you can have your own lands, in Westeros or on the continent." Let the little bugger work his ass off, so I can relax more. I bet he got laid a lot in Salt City, twenty thousand females, there would be several that want their itches scratched.

Xxxxx

Greywater Watch got a small visit, that keep was a bit small… and bloody floating in a swamp, there was no room for our tent at all, we left after we delivered the message of the new Moat Cailin.

Our next stop was the Twins… what to do with that old fart? In one way I admire him a bit, he is fucking women, one after the other, he gets his kids married to everyone that stays longer than one day in his keep, in his own way he is looking out for his legacy.

That evaporated one hour later when he tried to set our wards up with some of his grandkids. Some rude comments about my wives sealed his fate.

We left the same day. That night we returned and ported all women and kids out. On both ends of the bridge, we erected a wall of solid granite, 100 feet high and 30 feet wide. A few miles out we created a new bridge, warded it so nobody can claim ownership.

It was time to visit dad.