The next morning, I was seeking more information. Symon seemed to be a good start, considering his attitude toward his books.

As I walked through the small village, I noticed people I passed would stand up straighter when they saw me. It was peculiar, they didn't act with any particular deference, but they seemed to be trying to be respectful.

Occasionally, I caught whispers of things like "sorceress" or "magic." I guessed I couldn't blame them, what I could do certainly seemed magical to me.

Knocking on Symon's door, there was a grumbling from within. The door swung inward suddenly, and Symon was glaring before he noticed me. His expression softened marginally, "What do you want?"

"I need help. I'm very far from home and I need to know more about everything going on here. Will you teach me?"

Sharp eyes scanned my face, before he nodded and stepped back.

"Come in, then. Make yourself comfortable." He turned to someone else in the hut, "Sorry lad, looks like we'll have to continue your lessons later. Run along, now."

There wasn't a reply that I heard, but a moment later a young boy happily ran from the hut.

I entered, sitting on one of two short logs that had been dragged in to be used as seats.

Symon sat on the other, across the small fire from me, and stretched his leg out.

"So, what do you want to know?"

Frowning, I tried to think of where to begin. "Where we are, in general. I've heard that we're somewhere north of some wall somewhere, but that doesn't explain much."

He cocked his head, "You mean you don't know?"

I shrugged, "I know I don't know a lot of things."

"That's not a bad answer." He nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Well, in general, we are on the northern portion of a landmass called Westeros. There's a very large wall, the only of it's kind, a few hundred miles south that spans three hundred miles east to west that divides these lands from the Seven Kingdoms below the wall."

"I… See." Alright, I definitely wasn't on Earth. Unless this was a delusi- no, not that again. "Kingdoms?" I asked, seeking clarification.

"From north to south, there is the kingdom of the North, the Riverlands, the Westerlands, the Stormlands, the Reach, and Dorne. There's the Iron Isles as well, though they hold no land on the mainland. All seven are bound into one, and have been for the last three hundred years. There's only one King, though each kingdom retains a Lord Paramount that functions similarly to the kings of old."

"Huh. So, feudalism?"

He nodded, "Where are you from that this is new to you?"

"I think that might be hard to explain. I don't think I'm from this world, if that makes any sense?"

Frowning, he shook his head. "This is the only world there is. I don't see how that could be."

I shrugged, "I can provide some evidence for the claim."

He seemed intrigued, gesturing for me to continue.

"What is the most advanced piece of engineering that currently exists, that you can think of?" I asked.

"Hm, advanced… The most complex mechanism I can think of must be the timekeeper at the Citadel, but I believe that the Wall is a greater feat of engineering."

"Timekeeper?"

He nodded, "Yes, a great construction that uses springs and gears to measure increments of time, instead of the common sundial or water clock."

"Where I come from, such devices have been miniaturized enough to fit on a bracelet, and stable enough to keep time in almost any circumstance."

"Truly?" He leaned forward, "I've heard you've built a few sleds, but would you be capable of constructing something so intricate?"

"I could, but I'd require much finer tools and materials than we have here. I believe I'll be able to build those tools in time."

He leaned back, disappointed. "Well, I suppose that makes sense. The timekeeper took twenty years to build, and I expect your smaller device would take just as long."

"It might, I don't know. So, do you have an education?"

"Yes," he sounded regretful, "I was a maester, for a time. I'd earned several links before… Well, it doesn't matter."

"A maester?"

"A man educated at the Citadel, the greatest seat of knowledge in the world."

"Oh." A thought struck me, "Education is rare, then?"

He nodded, "Generally, the nobility can afford to pay the Citadel for a maester to join their household, and educating their children is one duty they fulfill. For the smallfolk, the church of the seven-pointed star teaches a few basics."

"And the people up here, north of the wall?"

He shook his head, frowning. "Nothing but what they can learn themselves."

I clapped my hands once, "Then I will teach them!" I could, as a major part of managing a fledgling civilization was a serious amount of education.

He seemed flummoxed. "What?"

I nodded excitedly, "Yes, mathematics, engineering, critical reasoning skills, medicine, so much more! See, I believe in a concept called freedom of education, that every person should be able to pursue learning. I can provide that."

He opened his mouth, then closed it, thinking.

"All maesters are men, and I've never seen a woman teach anything more than embroidery."

I waved it off, "I don't know anything about embroidery, and I'm not a maester, so it doesn't matter."

"I don't know if such a thing is possible. I've been with the wildlings for several years, and I've never seen any inclination towards education. Information, sometimes, but never learning for the sake of learning."

Frowning, I considered. "These people don't seem as though they have much, and what they do have is precious to them. As a society, there may not be enough resources to support higher learning. Every man or woman who spends an hour a day in a class is one less hunter."

"That is one conclusion I've come to, yes. Beyond that, however, they are very stubborn. They respect strength and ability above all else, so unless you can prove yourself as having great merit, I doubt they would listen to you."

I nodded, "Well, I'll have to do something to prove myself, of course." I contemplated what might be suitable. Construction at the speed and quality I was capable of was impressive, but was it enough? No, I'd have to do something else.

Strength and ability… I had one of those, at least.

"What do you suggest I should do?"

He frowned, "Best you can do is contribute. Survival is hard out here, as comfortable as these people are in the cold."

I cocked my head, "Why do you talk as though you aren't one of them?"

"It is complicated." He looked uncomfortable but continued. "I was, for a time a member of the Night's Watch. I was wounded and they cared for me. I was never a good watchman, and I'd never wanted to take the black to begin with. Some may call me oathbreaker, but a forced oath is no more binding than the wind."

"Night's Watch? Oaths?"

He nodded, "The Night's Watch has manned the Wall for thousands of years." He pulled at his black cloak, "The men of the watch swear oaths of service to defend the lands of the south from… I used to believe the wildlings, but now I worry those oaths were for something worse. Many now are sent to join the watch for crimes committed, and very few join voluntarily."

That sounded much like a penal colony. "I take it that it's not a pleasant position?"

He chuckled, "That's not even the tenth of it. Once, the watch was flush with recruits and supplies from the kingdoms of the south. Tens of thousands of men stood at the Wall, and all nineteen castles along it were well maintained. Mayhaps it wasn't so bad then. Now, there are less than three thousand watchmen total, and only three of the castles are in use. The only aid comes from the Northern lords, and even then, it's spare."

Shaking his head, "No, I find myself much more comfortable here. I've never had the constitution for cold weather, but there's something appealing about freedom from the whims of kings and lords."

"I'm sorry if this is a sensitive question, but why did you join the watch?"

Frowning, he shrugged. "It wasn't by choice. If you must know the great crime I committed to warrant a lifelong exile, listen close."

He leaned forward, "The lord that the Citadel had assigned me to had a habit of taking liberties with the smallfolk women, oft by force. I protested and was rebuffed. I penned a letter to the Citadel requesting reassignment and was ignored. Finally, I wrote to Grand Maester Pycelle in King's Landing, as the man served the King himself. Within a sennight, I was put in shackles and tossed in the dungeon by the lord's armsmen, then given the choice between the gibbet or taking the black."

"What?" I was taken aback, "They were going to kill you for that?"

He nodded seriously. "I learned that day that the nobility wasn't nearly so noble as they like to seem."

I believed him. "Well, maybe the nobility needs to be deposed."

"What," he laughed, "Depose the nobility? That could never happen. This has been the way of the world for thousands of years. If it could change, it would have."

I shook my head, "That's thousands of years too long, then. Maybe all that's needed for change is for someone with the will to take a hammer to the system."

"And that someone is you, eh?" He chuckled, "As wondrous a witch you may be, you're but one woman."

He had a point. I doubted I'd be able to do anything major alone. It was a societal problem and needed to be engaged from that perspective.

I tapped my lips in thought. "You do have a point. I'll have to think about this, but I'm opposed to the concept of feudalism regardless of my own personal efficacy. Freeing people from the yoke of a caste system is a worthy goal."

How could I ever live with myself if I just turned away from those problems? I have the ability to enact real positive change for everyone suffering under feudal society. I had to try. My ethics demanded it of me.

My attention was diverted by my power grabbing a cluster of lights from a passing constellation.

It was a series of additions to my odd pocket reality accessible by key or portal. More natural lighting, enough clean water to supply Tokyo and the requisite taps, an incredible recycling device and fabrication unit that can break down anything into elements and reconstitute them into preprogrammed patterns, and a massive automated aeroponics bay.

Abruptly, I stood. "Sorry, I have to go check something." I rushed out of the hut without waiting for Symon's reply.

I jogged over to the door I'd built, opening it with the key. The white room on the other side had changed. It was lit much more naturally with ambient sunlight, and two doors had appeared on the far wall.

Checking the door on the left, I saw a cavernous and well-lit space absolutely filled with racks upon racks of aeroponics. There was a series of bins along the wall next to me, as well as a small slot on the wall. The bins contained packets of seeds of all types, and by placing the packets in the slot, the bay would handle the planting and care from there.

I checked the other door, noting a smaller room laden with machinery. It was the recycling plant and fabricator, seeming a mass of steel pipes wrapped around the walls of the room. There were input and output doors, and a large console sat against a wall.

The recycler could handle any waste produced from within this space, rendering it down to base elements that were stored somewhere within. The fabricator could then take those elements and form new objects, though elemental transmutation was beyond it. It couldn't produce anything now, as there were no blueprints available, but I could add them by manually recycling objects. It would then be able to create identical copies of that.

This would be very useful. I had the feeling that electronics or alloys more advanced than steel would be impossible to come by, and this machine offered a shortcut for manufacturing once I could produce samples myself.

The fact that it could break down anything into component atoms was the linchpin. Soil contained a variety of trace elements in addition to being primarily composed of oxygen and silicon. Wood contained plenty of carbon, and as rare as worked metals were among these folks, the iron and bronze tools could be broken down and reforged.

I returned to the aeroponics bay, tossing all of the seeds into the slot. The bay had a companion light that supplied the seeds in the first place, and it was only enough to populate half the bay. Even then, given the size of this place and its automated nature, I could expect it to produce a lot of food.

I still only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. As I moved seed packets, I ruminated on it. For some reason, I had two abilities revolving around leadership, and an entire cluster of lights based on the concept of constructing a self-sufficient civilization from an already-existing tech base. Though I lacked that base, I had a sturdy foundation to really improve the lives of the people living here.

It was only twenty people, and all this seemed overkill for such a small group. Still, it was a start.

I frowned to myself. Was I seriously considering trying to become some sort of leader? The idea had some… Uncomfortable connotations. Without these supernatural abilities, I was wholly unqualified. Hell, I probably would have frozen to death before even waking up. With them, I could do a lot. The real question was, what right did I have to do that? I had the means and capability, but was that enough?

My ethics were pushing me towards it. The foundation of my morality was to maximize the wellbeing of people, and given the capabilities I had now, I should at least consider the idea.

Part of the hang-up was that I was worried that if I merely took a supporting role to another leader without the abilities I had, things would go horribly wrong. Taegj especially seemed the type to use what I could provide to bolster his own position.

If I went through with this, I'd need more than twenty people. What I really needed to do now was learn more about these people, how they worked as a society and what the dominant memes of their culture were.

In the meantime, though, I could afford to spend a little time making myself more comfortable. Herrick had given me some of the tools the previous evening, claiming they were better used in my hands. It was nice of him, and I certainly appreciated it. Metal tools seemed almost vanishingly rare here, what with almost everything being wood and bone.

First, I really wanted a bed. The only reason I'd been able to sleep last night was out of exhaustion, and my back was still screwed up from the hard floor.

Walking back out to the village, I made my way back to the partially disassembled hut. If we weren't leaving, I should probably put it back together, though it would be faster just to knock it down and build it fresh.

The sleds had been moved off to the side, and one was missing. I didn't think anything of it as I started using the rest of the hut to make various items of furniture.

My bedframe was the first thing I built, taking but half an hour. It was a solid construction made from untreated pine, though not much more than a simple cot. It was small enough for me to drag through the door without much issue and brought it over to the recycler room. That had a door that shut and would work as a bedroom for now.

A few minutes of collecting pine boughs later and I had a bit of cushioning for the bed. Of course, I'd need some sort of covering to go over it. A hide or something? I might be able to barter for one. These people really enjoyed music and making a flute wouldn't take me very long.

A constellation passed, and I snagged a small light. It was a pretty great one, incredibly enhancing my ability to work with anything that qualifies as a natural material. Stone, wood, sand, even animal products, I was able to work it all with great ease. It wasn't magical, but it seemed near enough, especially with the oddity that was some sort of reinforcement effect applied to such creations. A wall made of sand would become as hard as granite, and a wooden blade could hold an edge as well as steel.

It was really good. I could make wooden tools that worked as well as good steel, and with Woodworker, that massively increased my options. Even better, there was another reduction in crafting time included, halved once more.

I rubbed my hands together, excited at the possibilities. At the very least, I could ensure that everyone had all the tools they needed.

Food from the aeroponics, decent tools that would all be of masterwork quality, potentially larger and sturdier shelters. Altogether, there should be a massive increase in the quality of life around here.

Leaving the bed in place, I made my way back out to the village, then turned towards the forest. I really just needed a few branches of a decent size from one of the local ash trees to start making my new tools, as well as a few instruments to barter for hides and sinew from the hunters.

My sword proved quite adept at cutting through wood. It was difficult to tell, but I thought I may be actually physically stronger than I had been. It may also have been how absurdly sharp the blade was, it was hard to tell.

Collecting a bundle of branches, I brought them back to the sled shed. The tools I had on hand were crude but sufficient to start producing better. I set to work, producing axes and hatches, carving tools, chisels, calipers, saws, planes and spokeshaves, and every other hand tool Woodworking was telling me I might need. The reinforcement effect seemed to stack with the masterwork quality, producing results greater than I was expecting.

These tools would barely wear with use and would take concerted effort to damage. I could use them for years before needing to replace them, and that was the kind of quality that seemed useful out here in the middle of nowhere.

I created a few instruments with the remainder of the stock. A couple of flutes and a set of pipes, for now.

When bartering, I learned that these people really cared about music. One of the hunters, Wyck, was more than happy to trade a couple of tanned deer pelts and as much sinew as I wanted for the pipes. I didn't even need to trade the flutes, so I left them in the fabricator room.

The pelts made a decent cover for the bed, and it was surprisingly comfortable for how simple it was.

Immediate plans taken care of, I took a few minutes to relax and consider the next task I should work on.

I was leaning towards going around and asking what people wanted or needed that they didn't have. Certainly, smaller hunting sleds might be nice for the hunters, freeing them from having to carry their kills over their shoulders. Better buildings as well, considering the reinforcement I could provide to natural materials very much included superior insulating properties. Furniture, maybe?

Alternatively, I could head out and do some foraging for medicinal plants. Woodworking gave me all the information I needed to find them and having plenty of medicine handy was bound to be a good thing in this environment.

Eventually, I decided on the former option. Leaving the pocket reality, I walked up to the first person I could see.

Ygdis was just outside, sitting on a sled and carving a small piece of wood. She looked up as I approached, a conflicted expression on her face.

"Hey," I greeted, "You alright with answering a few questions?"

A flash of what may have been fear crossed her face and she put down the small carving knife.

"Yea? What?" She replied in a guarded tone.

I crouched nearby, dropping myself to her level. "Well, I suppose I've decided I'd hang around and help everyone out. Is there anything you can think of that would make your life easier here?"

She seemed surprised, "Oh, ah… Things that would make my life easier?" Scratching her head, she peered off into the distance. "Can you do anything about the cold?"

"If I built a building, I'd be able to make it keep the heat really well. I suppose that if someone taught me how to make these clothes of ours, they'd end up being a little warmer too. Ah, I could make firestarting tools as well."

She refocused on me, "Really? You're a weird woods-witch." She winced, "'m sorry, didn't mean any offense."

"Woods-witch?" I cocked my head, "I'm not offended. What's a woods-witch?"

Relieved, she gestured vaguely. "You know, healers and prophecy-tellers. Sometimes, they even make things happen. You made that white hut appear, but I've never heard of one that, ah, makes things like you do?" She tapped the sled for emphasis, "I only know a few people who have things like these, and they're all close to the Wall."

I shrugged, "I'm afraid I'm not one of these woods-witches. This is only my second day here in the lands beyond the wall."

She blinked, "But, we're leagues from everywhere! How can that be?"

"I don't know. I don't think it matters much, but I'm here now and here's where I want to stay for the moment."

Frowning, she considered. "Nevermind, then. Can you help us defend from the Crows?"

"The crows?"

"No, the Crows. The Night's Watch. Buggers down on the wall sometimes come out to kill us."

"I… Suppose?" She was asking for help defending, not assaulting. "Aren't most of those lot in the watch against their will?"

She snorted. "Don't matter when they come out to kill us for sport. They have armor, food, better weapons. Us? We're desperate. Just barely scraping by every day. You know what happens when the Crows come across a village?"

I shook my head, "Please, tell me."

"They slaughter everyone older than their nameday and take the boy babes for themselves." She spat on the ground, "Fuck the Crows."

The sheer hatred in her voice gave me pause.

"What about Symon?"

She shrugged, "He's not a Crow anymore. 'sides, he can't fight worth shit. He was one of those what got sick of it and made it out alive."

She wasn't wrong, Symon really did strike me as more of a thinker than a fighter.

"I'm sorry. What would you need to defend from the watch?"

Waving around the village, "I've been to a few villages with a wall, and if we had one of those it'd be easier to keep ourselves safe. Do you know how to make weapons? We could use those. Armor too, fancy mail like the Kneelers?"

I hummed consideringly. "Could do with a wall, but I'd need a lot of help and there's only twenty people here. Weapons and armor aren't impossible, but they'll be odd." I pulled a sheathed wooden knife out of my pocket and handed to her.

She took it, unsheathing it and looking at it curiously. "It's wood? Wood's shit for knives."

Nodding, "Normally, yes. When I make things, I can make them better, and that knife is as good as the finest steel."

Chuckling disbelievingly, "That's a fine jape. A wooden knife!" She examined the edge, then stabbed it into the sled. Reinforced pine met natural pine and slid right through.

She stared at the knife, shocked. Then, she whistled appreciatively. "Fuck me, you weren't lying." Pulling it free, she examined the edge again. "Can I have this?"

"Sure." I could make another easily enough, after all. It was worth the goodwill.

"If you can make arrows like this, that would be just what we need. More blades, too. Oh, and more of these!" She tapped the sled, "But smaller so one of us can pull it when we go hunting."

"I can do that, yeah."

"If you aren't a woods-witch, what do you want me to call you?" She seemed much more comfortable after a bit of conversation. "You know, if you wanted that sort of thing. Some people get real buggered about that, like Taegj."

Shrugging, "I dunno. Just call me Maia? That's my name. Not sure I want a fancy title like woods-witch or anything."

She nodded seriously. "Right. That's fair."

"Well, I'm gonna go ask the others about what they might want. I'll leave you be."

She nodded, picking up her carving and getting back to it.

Walking around the village, I asked everyone the same questions. They all came down to the same three things, things that made the cold less of a problem, things to defend themselves, and things to help hunt. Some asked for more specific things, like climbing gear, apparently wanting to climb the Wall and start fresh on the other side.

That really was the undercurrent of their ambition. They viewed the lands below the Wall as warm and green, somewhere to settle and make a better life for themselves. Some wanted to raid the kneelers, but most just wanted to live where food was plentiful and where they wouldn't freeze to death in the summers.

In the meantime, I could certainly provide shelter and weapons. Woodworking was proving useful once again as I used it to build a mental blueprint for a large gathering hall and communal residence. It had to be large enough to hold everyone in the village, as well as any visitors that might be present, and defensible enough to withstand any force short of the Others returning.

The stories of their weapons being cold enough to shatter steel and sharp enough to cut straight through a man made me think they'd probably be able to get through anything I could build. Even if it was an exaggeration, I'd prefer to overestimate their capabilities than underestimate them. If they came, I could fall back on the pocket reality like I had last time.

It was a good idea to attach a storage area to the building as well. I had no solutions for warming the ground enough to dig out a basement or anything underground, and even digging the holes for the supports would be stretching my capabilities. It would require starting fires over the spots, boiling and dumping water several times over the course of hours, and even then, I'd need to spend a while with a pickaxe breaking up the dirt.

Of course, if I could teach myself how to channel, I should be more than capable of using that. Unfortunately, that would still take months. Conventional methods would work until I progressed to that point.

I set aside the new hall concept, mentally shelving it for the moment. It was a decent foundation, but I'd be better served getting the tools and weapons people wanted out to them.

Returning to the sled-zone, I got to work on the tools using the rest of the hut for raw materials.

A series of piles, one for each type of tool I created, formed over the course of the next few hours. Axes, knives, hammers, saws, everything else that I could think of, and of every kind I could conceive. The reinforcement I applied to the wood more than made up for any material quality issues, thankfully.

Once I felt I had enough tools, I got to work on weapons. I must have made a few hundred arrows in addition to the melee weapons, primarily spears, long knives with sheathes, and cudgels.

I would never have been able to do this without Masterwork. Without that, everything here would be trash, a waste of good wood and my own time. With it, every single item was its own work of art. Practical, well-built, and each perfectly balanced. On every tool and weapon I engraved a small symbol, taking inspiration from my sword. Two small wings on either side of a slender tapering tower, something that made me think of reaching to the stars. It felt right, putting a maker's mark on them.

I'd gathered a bit of a crowd while I worked, and when I set the final arrow down, I stood to face them.

Herrick was there, as was Wyck and Ygdis, and a couple of other people I hadn't gotten the names of yet. They seemed eager, but wary, and they kept a decent distance.

Waving towards the tools and weapons, "I've made these for you and everyone here. Take what you need before what you want, and if the piles run out of something you want, let me know and I'll make it."

Ygdis and Herrick wasted no time in walking up and rifling through the piles, and I stood aside to give them free access. The others joined them shortly thereafter.

I was glad to see that they didn't fight over anything. There was some disbelief over the efficacy of wooden tools, but I was happy enough to demonstrate how well my axes split wood and kept their edges. Somehow, they had gained mass at the head, making it as easy to use as a good steel axe.

Over the next hour, everyone in the village had a chance to go through the piles. A few of them, Herrick among them, seemed genuinely grateful. The rest appeared to expect some sort of trick or jape at their expense, and only time would convince them otherwise.

I spent the rest of the day working on the flowerbud mental exercise. It was touch and go, sometimes I'd feel something at the edge of my awareness, sometimes nothing. I had high hopes that once I could touch the One Power with consistency, I'd be able to actually start working on actually holding it.

I was an oddity compared to the source material as far as total potential strength and ability went, but I was still limited by the slow and steady natural growth rates that women had. Even if I was able to hold the Power, my strength this early in the process would be very low. It would increase as I channeled more and more, like a muscle being used, but it would likely be years before I reached my potential.

There were a few methods to speed that process up, though they were rather dangerous. The One Power is addictive, and the more one holds the more they want to hold. This, naturally, makes the method of holding as much as one is capable of safely a high-risk, high-reward proposition. If I screwed up with that and drew too much, I'd burn the ability right out of me or die outright.

The alternative methods all required the use of specific objects that used the Power, none of which I had on hand.

Truthfully, I couldn't think of any reasons for needing city-destroying levels of magical power sooner than later. I could just wait for things to take the natural course.

Dinner was some sort of stew, with unidentifiable chunks of meat among wild forageables. When I asked, they told me it was rabbit. I'd never had rabbit before, but it was warm, filling, and I had no objections to the flavor.

Afterward, there was time for singing and telling stories. Wyck had been showing off the pipes I gave him, and he played them very well.

The stories generally had free folk outwitting or outsmarting the Night's Watch or kneelers below the wall. They really liked the tales of Bael the Bard, a great King-Beyond-The-Wall, apparently.

In some stories, he stole down below the wall to the castle Winterfell, where he entertained the lord who had wronged him and left with the lord's daughter. In others, he was a great raider, leading parties beyond the wall to pillage and loot.

It was a fascinating insight into their culture. Raiding, it seemed, was one of the few methods that the free folk had available to get materials they couldn't in the lands beyond the wall. Iron and steel, some foodstuffs, and occasionally women.

That last was something I didn't greatly appreciate, but I was confident that an increase in living conditions would give me an opportunity to encourage alternatives.

The whole concept of a King-Beyond-The-Wall was closer to a war-chief that led many people than the organized royalty of the south, it turned out. Anybody could say they were King or Queen, but they would have to prove themselves worthy of the title. It wasn't done lightly, but there weren't any cultural restrictions on who could or couldn't declare themselves to be one. Even I could do it, and as long as I survived all challengers, I'd prove myself the most able to lead.

That was the situation with that Mance person I'd heard about. He had declared himself King-Beyond-The-Wall and was gathering the free folk, ostensibly to break through the Wal and resettle in the lands beyond. He still faced plenty of opposition, and others had declared themselves King or Queen in response. So far, nobody had killed the man, but it seemed only a matter of time before someone managed it.

The more I thought about it, the more I was considering declaring myself a leader of that sort. I had the skills and knowledge to make it work, and I genuinely wanted to help these people. They were impoverished, and their lack of resources had developed a culture revolving around pragmatism. Violent, yes, but that was partially due to large scale cooperation being all but impossible when the Watch would come and kill everyone trying.

There was one city in the lands beyond the wall, a place called Hardhome. Six hundred years ago it had been destroyed under dubious circumstances, and while some still lived there, it was reportedly cursed.

Symon was certain the Wall was built several thousand years ago, trapping the people who would become the free folk up here. In all that time, I sincerely doubted that Hardhome had been the only large-scale settlement in all that time. There had to have been others, destroyed and long forgotten.

It was the conditions of their survival that kept them from developing into a more settled community. Agriculture this far north was almost impossible, and so they subsisted off of hunting and gathering. That needed more energy than waiting for plants to grow, and in this kind of environment, every calorie was precious.

I had the aeroponics bay that could supply a serious amount of food. I hadn't fully measured it yet, but it seemed large enough to feed quite a few people.

Even without it, all I needed was time to build up. I could provide a quality of living far in advance of anything globalized capitalism had ever achieved, while still maintaining a balance with the environment.

Really, that seemed to be what the free folk truly desired. A home where they could live without fear of starvation, freezing to death, or assaults from other free folk and the Watch.

I needed to talk to someone about this. Wandering through the village, I found Grenwin spreading some sort of viscous liquid on a fresh pelt. I liked her, and she'd be straight with me on whether or not what I was thinking was a good idea.

"Hey, Grenwin?"

She turned her head to look at me without stopping her work, "What?"

"Can I talk to you about something I've been thinking on?"

She nodded, and I sat on the ground nearby.

I took time gathering my jumbled thoughts before speaking. "I can do a lot for the free folk. Make tools and weapons, build shelter, but much more besides."

"Uh huh," she grunted.

"I could get everyone below the Wall and help get everyone settled. Without lords or kings being involved, I mean."

Her head snapped back up, and she stared into my eyes. After a moment, she nodded, satisfied with whatever she saw.

"You aren't lying, are you." She sighed longingly, "That's a distant dream, and no-one's ever made it happen. Are you sure you can?"

"I'm sure," I nodded seriously. "But…" I grimaced, "I think I'd have to declare myself as one of those Queens-Beyond-The-Wall to get everyone together for it."

She laughed heartily. "You could try! Gods, but that's funny."

I felt vaguely insulted. "I'm serious, Grenwin. It'd be the only way to avoid the southern lords from immediately coming down on us with an army. We could move this group now, probably, but how many get caught and crushed below the wall?"

She was quiet, thinking it through. "Most, I think." She gestured at me with the rag she was using to spread that paste, "How can you lead if you don't even know how to fight? No, if you want to prove yourself, prove yourself against Taegj. Not with empty promises."

Frowning, I considered. I doubted I could win a straight fight with the man.

"What, like a fight to the death? He's not done anything to me that I'd want to kill the man."

She shook her head, "It's not about killing, its about showing that you'll fight for what you want. If you'll fight for that, you'll fight for us."

I could see how that made sense. They would only willingly follow leaders who could make good on their promises, and it was entirely voluntary besides. They might not like Taegj, but he was strong enough to lead them, and that's all that mattered.

I didn't really relish the idea of fighting the man over a power struggle. It felt wrong, but that was through the lens of my own cultural expectations. I wasn't thinking of recruiting more people like me, I was thinking of recruiting the free folk, and I would need to play by their rules.

"I understand. Will you still teach me how to fight? I've the will, but not the skill."

She looked at me seriously. "I don't much like the idea of teaching you just to watch you kill yourself." She sighed, "But I can see you'd try even without it. Fine, I'll teach you, but if you die I'm taking your stuff."

"Fair enough. Not like I'll be around to stop you, eh?"

She smiled, "Well, how about you help me finish tanning these hides? There's not much light left in the day, but if we're quick there'll still be enough to start."

I nodded, helping her as she needed. The paste was a mixture of brains, acorn water, egg yolks, and fat, and needed to be spread across the whole pelt.

It was tedious work, but that just made it all the more relaxing. It was nice to do something the slow way, setting up a process that would take a while to pay off instead of wildly rushing into a task.

After we finished, she pulled me off a way from the village. The sun was setting, casting the snowy environment in dusky light.

She gave me a look over, "Yer small. Hm, you'd be best keeping your distance when fighting, and that sword's bad for that. You know how to use a spear?"

I shook my head, "Not really." Weren't swords sidearms while pointy sticks were the primary weapons back before firearms? "A spear sounds useful, though."

"Better than useful. A good spear will see you through the worst. You'd want a belt knife as well, if someone gets past the spear you're not like to have the time to draw that sword."

"Okay. How long should the spear and knife be? I can make them tomorrow."

She stepped forward, taking my arms and holding them out to the sides. Then, she took my hands and put them in front of me, about two feet apart.

Eventually, she nodded, "For the spear, about five feet long. That's… Hm, a little taller than you? When you stand it next to you straight, the point should be about here." She held a hand a few inches above my head.

"The knife, have the blade a foot long. This much," She demonstrated with her hands, "You want it to be straight and have some heft to it." Taking one of my hands, she rolled it into a fist as though holding the knife. "You want the handle to be about twice as long as your hand here, and if you can, one of those fancy hand guards between the grip and the blade, like the kneelers have."

I nodded, "Okay, I can do that. Does the spearhead need to be a certain size or have anything special on it?"

She considered, "Blade bout half a foot long and a quarter wide." She traced a rounded triangle shape in the air, "And you'd want it sharp the whole length. You can slash with it as easily as you stab."

"Alright, half a foot long and a quarter foot wide." Using Woodworker to mentally put together the blueprints, I smiled, "Thank you."

She shook her head, "Don't thank me yet." She grinned, "I'm gonna beat you blue till you learn how to fight like a proper spearwife."

Yeah, that was intimidating. She meant it, too.

"I'll just have to learn fast then." I said, putting as much confidence in my tone as I could.

Her grin turned sinister, "That's what they all say." Then, she laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. "I'm japing, don't worry. I wouldn't want to bruise that pretty face of yours."

I felt my cheeks heating up. How long had it been since anyone had actually said something like that to me? Long enough that it was honestly nice to hear.

"Okay, what else can you teach me till I have those weapons made?"

She tapped the side of my head, "Many think that all fighting is is throwing themselves at someone and overpowering them. Sometimes, they manage to survive from raw strength or speed. You, though, you need to be smart about it." She stepped back, "You're not unarmed, even without weapons. Hands, feet, arms, legs, you can use them all. How would you take me down without that sword of yours?"

I looked her over, trying to remember the mishmash of information I'd picked up about the human body and faint self-defense lessons.

Pointing at her throat, "I'd try and hit you hard under the chin or in the nose. If I had a rock handy, I'd use that." Motioning lower, "Or kick you in the groin?"

She smiled, "That's a good start. Do you know how to get out of a hold?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so?"

She stepped forward, "A common method some use is to take their arms and trap your neck, like this." She demonstrated, stepping around to my side and putting me in a headlock under one arm. "How do you get out of this?"

I grunted, gently tapping the back of her knee with a booted foot. "Kick here," I tried to say. She was very strong, and it was hard to move my jaw enough to speak.

She released me. "There, or just above the ankle. Your hands and arms are still free like that, but you won't have a good angle to strike. Have you had to fight before?"

Shaking my head, "No, but I used to live in a place where information was freely available. Unarmed fighting for sport was pretty popular, and there were a lot of people who would explain how and why different things worked."

Intrigued by the notion, she asked, "Fighting for sport? That sounds like a good time. So, you watched people fight often?"

"Sometimes? There were a few kinds, wrestling, boxing, but the most brutal was always the MMA competitions."

"Boxing? Ememay?"

"Oh, boxing is where two fighters wear padded gloves and try to punch eachother into submission. MMA is an acronym that stands for mixed martial arts, so you had people from all sorts of schools of fighting competing."

She seemed almost to have stars in her eyes, she was so interested. "That sounds amazing. What's a school?"

I blinked, not expecting that question. "A place of learning, or a broad… Uhm, kind of learning? In this case, I mean the kind of learning, because there were many many different kinds of fighting that people had studied."

"Oh. So that's how you learned this much about fighting?"

I nodded, "I never participated or studied it seriously, but I was interested in it for a while and picked up a few small things."

"Explains a lot. Alright, I'm gonna show you a few more things you can do to break out of a hold like that before we run out of light."

For the next hour, she made true on the promise. She encouraged me to be as brutal as I could, because if it came down to them or me, I should always do everything possible to survive.

She was a good teacher, and I wasn't surprised when she said she'd been teaching Ygdis as well. She even floated the idea of having the two of us fight against each other.

Afterward, we sat together and talked about life here in the frozen north.

"So, these Thenns have metalworking?"

"Yeah, they're far enough north that the Crows can't fight them. They're an odd folk, following their god, but their god is just a man they call Magnar. Makes sense, right?"

My response was curtailed by a small cluster of lights being taken from a passing constellation. Oh, wow.

There were only two of them. The smaller one was a whole field of study into nanotechnology, condensed into a cohesive set of knowledge. Wherever this had come from, it was far ahead of anything from the Earth I was raised on. The applications where astonishing and all practical. Medicine, engineering, construction, there were few limits to what purpose-built nanite colonies could achieve.

They were surprisingly dangerous, however. They had to be carefully maintained and controlled, or else they would go out of control. There wasn't any risk of a grey goo scenario, fortunately, and if any cropped up it would be easily handled with a bit of fire. The danger came from medical nanites malfunctioning and enacting cascading alterations and mutations.

The risk was all but nonexistent when used properly with even adequate equipment. However, if someone was to come in contact with inactive medical nanites and they were to somehow be activated outside of a controlled environment, the results would be horrific.

The second light was four times as large as the first, and a thousand times as interesting. It granted me the ability to extract nanotechnology from external sources and store it within myself, as well as absolute control over any nanotech or nanotech derived equipment within my immediate vicinity.

More importantly, it had loaded my body with nanites. They were essentially useless on their own, blank slates with no programming, but the control ability had somehow forced them into medical routines. Even now, I had a full awareness of everything they were doing within my own body, tuning it to peak human ability. They seemed to be pulling material from nowhere, casually violating the law of conservation of mass. I watched as they somehow pulled sugars, proteins, and fats from nothing to supply my cells with nutrients.

These trillions of tiny machines were more than capable of healing me from even the most grievous wounds. I could lose an arm and regrow it in seconds, and even a lethal brain injury would be easily fixed. Somehow, my mental state was actively being shared with the nanocolony in my body, decentralizing my thoughts and memories and providing an incredibly robust backup.

I could heal others with this, too, and do more besides. Physical alterations could take place in seconds, and illnesses could be swept aside with a pace measured in thousandths of a second. It was stunning how quickly they could work.

If I could put together the right equipment to contain a small colony, I could extract some of the blank nanites and reprogram them for almost any task. I thought that the fabricator was the greatest thing I could have been given, but with these, I could do so much. More fabricators that could serve anyone who needed them, trash cans that could convert garbage into airborne medicines or food, the possibilities seemed endless.

A nudge to my shoulder drew me out of my thoughts. Grenwin was looking at me with concern.

"What is it? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just…" I didn't know how to explain it. "I'm getting better over time, I think."

She cocked her head, "Better over time?"

I frowned, looking at my hands. "Every so often, something happens and I get something. Knowledge, abilities, skills, even that shelter."

She looked around, "What do you mean?"

Shrugging, "I woke up in the snow outside… Han's Ford? Yeah, I woke up there in the middle of the night, the night before yesterday."

Confused, she grabbed my hand, examining it. "Not cold, and you don't have those blue eyes. I don't understand what you're saying."

"I don't think I'm able to describe it well. It's like, there's a space in my thoughts that's like the night sky, full of lights. Sometimes, the lights come close enough that I can take some, and each light has something that I get when I take it. The sword was one of them, and so was the shelter, and there's more besides."

She motioned for me to continue.

"So, sometimes they're really big and have a lot of implications. I just caught a couple lights that… It's complicated, but I can heal myself and others really well."

"Heal? Like a woodswitch?"

I shook my head, "Dunno about that. Do you want me to try healing you to prove it?"

She smirked, humoring me. "Try, then."

Using the nanites on someone else was very similar to using them on myself. It took very little time before enough of them had passed through the skin on my hand and into hers that her body was saturated with them, and I received an incredible amount of information.

I set the nanites to generally heal, and they worked flawlessly. They weren't automated themselves but driven by my control ability. It meant that they were completely safe and effective, at the very least.

In moments, old wounds and scarring had been repaired, the long-term effects of malnutrition treated as though it had never been, and even the skin on her face had cleared up of old acne scarring.

I withdrew the nanites as soon as they were done, releasing her hand.

She took a deep breath, then stood and stretched. Turning to me, she was quite pleased.

"I've not been this limber in years! All the aches are gone!"

Rotating her arms, she rubbed her shoulder, where it had once been dislocated and repositioned badly. "No pain! Hah!" She laughed disbelievingly, pulling up her sleeves and examining the flawless skin on her arms.

"I can't believe it. You really healed me?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I can heal myself too, from injuries that would kill anyone else. Looks like I'll be keeping my stuff after all." I grinned at her.

"Never heard of anything like this before. And you keep getting more things like this?"

I nodded again. "It seems inconsistent, but it's happened quite a bit in just the last couple of days. It might slow down, or it might not, I don't know."

She kneeled next to where I was sitting, "Explains why you want to claim yourself Queen-Beyond-The-Wall. If I could do what you could, I'd be the greatest Queen there's ever been!"

I shrugged, "Maybe? I don't want to do it out of a desire for power, I just want to make as many people safe and happy as I can. I think it would be good to get as many of the free folk below the wall as we can, then settle somewhere nice and establish ourselves as a force that the southerners can't just destroy on a whim. After that, I think I'd probably step back unless people wanted me to stay in charge."

She looked into my eyes, "Hard to imagine a life below the Wall. If you can make it happen, the freefolk would follow you until another proved themselves better."

I nodded, "I promise to do my best to make it happen."

She shrugged, "Sure. We'll just have to see if you can or not."

"So, what else can you tell me about this Mance Rayder?"

We talked for a few hours, going over a good deal of the culture of the free folk and what they wanted. She thought Mance had been the best hope they had for escaping the Others alive, something she had a unique insight into. The others in the camp seemed to think that Mance was another strong leader, and they wanted to see if he succeeded before going to join him.

Eventually, she left to go get some sleep, and I was feeling pretty tired myself.

Returning to my impromptu bedroom, I was quite satisfied with the bed I'd built. I was starting to feel a little gross, considering I hadn't had a real bath in days. The time underwater might have helped a little, but it wasn't the same as a hot shower with good soap.

Exhausted, I fell asleep quickly.