I'm the first Ironborn, ever to be made welcome on Bear Island It's true. As her ship, the Black Wind, docks at the harbour at the end of the fjord, Lady Alysanne Mormont is waiting for her, with a couple of hundred of her people. As so often, there is a light snow, drifting down from the mountains that tower over them. When Yara walks down the gangplank, the crowd kneel before her. She takes Lady Alysanne by her hand, raises her to her feet, and kisses her on the lips. They retire to the longhouse where a feast will be held in her honour. Seated at the top table, she dines on crab and venison and badger, accompanied by copious drafts of ale and mead. It is no different to being entertained by a Lord of the Ironborn. The same food and drink, the same smoke-blackened hall, the same sagas being told by a skald; this one is very good indeed, as he recounts how generations ago, a monster threatened Bear Island, only to be slain by a Mormont, but the monster had a mother, more formidable, who sought vengeance, and the hero had to dive below the sea, to destroy her in her lair. She has heard exactly the same tale told about the Greyjoys, but he tells it beautifully. She removes a silver arm ring, and tosses it to the delighted skald. It is time for her to speak to the crowd.

"You are all used to seeing me as an enemy. If Ned Stark were still alive, you would be right to see me as an enemy. You would be right to fight for him. Ned Stark was my enemy and my father's enemy, but he was good, and honourable, and brave, as was his wife, Lady Catelyn. Any man (or woman) should want to fight for him. Next to a good friend, the best thing in life is to have a good enemy. But his daughter, Sansa, she is something else entirely. " There was a low rumble of agreement. "A Queen, who sells her own people into slavery. Who lives in splendour in her fairytale palace, while her people go hungry. Who has burned villages and castles to the ground. Who betrays the memory of her father and mother, by violating everything they believed in. You deserve better than that!" People were crying out in approval, drumming mugs of ale on the tabletops. "Let me assure you, that if I am your Queen, your welfare will be my priority. Never will you need to fear raids from the Iron Islands; the Iron Fleet will protect the North from its enemies. The North will always be ruled from Winterfell, never from Pyke. The kingdoms will remain separate. When I am away from Winterfell, then your own liege lady, Alysanne Mormont, will rule as viceroy, in my place. I am not a conqueror; I come to free you from a tyrant!" The crowd rose, applauding her, cheering her name, over and over. Grey Worm came over to congratulate her. "They are yours your Grace, now and always."

"I wish our old friend could be here to see it. "

Grey Worm smiled. "They worship her as a goddess, now in Naath, and in much of the East. If she is one, she is surely with us, now."

Lady Mormont rose from the table, and walked over to them. The three of them walked out of the entrance, into the cold dusk, to talk more privately.

"I can give you two hundred men for your campaign. Sadly, no more. Far too few for the honour you have done me."

"You were the first vassal to join me, Alysanne. Your loyalty deserves a rich reward."

"What now? Will you strike at Deepwood Motte.?"

"No the mountain clans are ready to move. They will place it under siege. I shall join my army on the Stony Shore. I'll leave a small squadron of longships here, to protect you in case of raids. Now tell me, which of her lords are loyal to her?"

"Above all, the Manderlys of White Harbour. She has taken care to cultivate them. Her daughter is betrothed to Lord Manderly's younger son? Do you intend to let her live?"

"I don't take revenge on children. The girl will be sent to Jon Snow and his sister at Castle Black. What she does with her life is up to her at that point. Any other lords?"

"The Karstarks and the Dustins, probably. But, she said it herself, many years ago, they are weathervanes. Most will back the winning side."

"Which we will be" comments Grey Worm. "That is not an idle boast. Our men fight for a cause. Hers fight for gain. I judge they have one battle in them. Defeat them, and her sellswords will have no wish to continue in a lost cause."

"Don't underrate her. She is a vile woman, but no one rules the North for fifteen years, without having some cunning. "

"She can hold her people down", replies Yara "But, I don't think she can fight an army at the same time."

"There's something you should know. Some of her enemies, she sells into slavery, as you know. Others, she sends to penal camps in the Wolfswood. I have never visited one of them but I hear they are …...not pleasant. It might be worth your while to bring chroniclers with you, who can make an account of such places. Let the world know what manner of woman rules the North."

"The world already knows what kind of woman rules the North, but your suggestion is a good one. I want to capture her alive, and put her on trial before the Northern lords, and representatives of the Smallfolk. "

"She wasn't always like this you know. She was quite different as a girl."

"She was married to a beast in human form, a man who tortured my brother for months, for sheer pleasure. She fed him to his own dogs, but he had the final victory. He made her into his successor. Well, not quite. She's no rapist, I'll give her that".

"I thought I'd be loyal to the Starks to my dying day. This is so sad."

"She's the one who betrayed her family, not you. She betrayed the Dragon Queen, too. Had she only been loyal, she would have lived out her days as Lady of Winterfell. "

"What fools we were to scorn her. She saved us from the Dead. What did Sansa do? Hoarded grain, which she sold for a handsome profit afterwards."

"What's done is done, Alysanne. Look to the future. You and I have the whole of the North to govern."

The three of them walk back to the longhouse in companionable silence.

Notes:

I envisage the Ironborn and Bear Islanders having as much in common as Danish Vikings and Northumbrian Angles. The tale is that of Beowulf, which was enjoyed across the North Se