Chapter 4: Otherworld Nonsense!
~287 AC~
It had been roughly a year since his encounter with The Maiden. From what he understood, materializing on the physical plane took a significant amount of energy. He doubted he'd be seeing her or any other gods or goddesses for a long while.
Robb thought it rather interesting to have had such an encounter only three years into his new life. He'd never heard or read of a god materializing in his old one. To think he'd have such an encounter in a world mostly devoid of magic was surprising.
However, meetings with godly beings weren't the only thing that had surprised Robb recently.
Part of the problem of having such an intellect at a young age was the desire to try to add structure to everything instead of learning about the world naturally through experience. Robb had remembered how thorough he was in reading his books on the wizarding world before his first year at Hogwarts. Front and back, he had read those books, trying to make sense of it all. He had relaxed on his reading after his first year, having acclimated to the wizarding world enough to not feel out of place.
His current situation was similar, but in some ways worse.
Robb had visited winter town in order to try to get a feel for the world outside; Winterfell had sometimes felt like a world all its own with how big it was. Unfortunately, he had come to find out that winter town was largely empty during spring and summer. It had been difficult to get permission from his parents to do even that much at this age, going out of town was out of the question for now.
In order to fill in the gaps of his knowledge, he turned to other sources. He had delved deep into the history of the known world, trying to make sense of this new world he was in; and what he saw alarmed him.
Violence and mayhem and poverty abound.
He knew what the Starks of old were like, and wasn't ashamed of his ancestors. It was true, they were bloody conquerors in years past, but they weren't unique in that.
What surprised him was how much of it still went on today.
Robb knew the North wasn't as fertile as other kingdoms. Much of it was moorlands and high plains. They had lost some of their prime farming land in the form of the New Gift.
Even worse, importing large amounts of food wasn't possible. Trekking through The Neck was difficult enough that importing enough food via land to feed the North was nigh impossible, and by sea had even more problems!
Reading about the Ironborn had caused Robb to seriously consider the possibility he had been reborn in one of Hermione's muggle fantasy novels; and reading about Wildlings only strengthened the sentiment.
That was to say nothing of how difficult it was to transport goods in the North in general. Summer snow wasn't rare, and the kingsroad was a joke!
What these food difficulties culminated in was portions of the North's elderly sacrificing themselves during winter so the young might survive. This was something of a shock to Robb. The idea of starvation was foreign to him. The Dursleys hadn't starved him, and even the poorest witch or wizard had no issue getting food.
He lamented at his misfortune at being reborn in such a world. He wanted to be surrounded by beautiful women of all kinds, not murderous tramps and slavers and famine!
Robb had always been something of a brooder in his old life, but he was determined not to let that be the case here. He would question Maester Luwin on this all later. For now, he'd go spend some time with his siblings.
"So theseā¦societies, if you can call them that: the Ironborn and the Wildlings. They're real? And they exist as described in the text?" Elbows propped on the desk and fingers laced together, Robb levelled Maester Luwin with a critical gaze as he peppered him with question after question.
Maester Luwin met Robb's gaze with a perplexed look.
History was the topic of today's lesson, and Robb knew what he wanted to focus on.
The maester contemplated for a moment as he answered the young lord's questions.
"Indeed, and they have so since the Dawn of Days." Robb grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose at the answer.
It would seem that he was indeed neighbors to murderous tramps and slavers.
His Hermione muggle fantasy novel theory grew in strength.
Not finished with his line of questioning just yet, Robb continued. "Might I ask why we haven't done anything about them? Several millennia of pillage and rapeā¦" Robb seemed to trail off, not sure where he was going with this line of thought.
Maester Luwin seemed to notice, and chimed in. "Then what would you do, Robb? What are you suggesting?"
Robb sat back at the interjection and thought. What was he suggesting? He had been a wizard who solved wizarding problems, not a wizard solving muggle problems.
Maester Luwin continued after giving Robb some time to think and continued, pulling him from his thoughts. "It is good that you are thinking about complex problems at such a young age, but solutions for such difficult problems often require complex answers. They require deep thought and understanding of the situation."
Satisfied that Robb seemed to understand the depth of the question a little better, he opted to end the lesson there to let him stew on his thoughts a little more.
Robb sat in his bed, thinking about his conversation with Maester Luwin.
Thinking about what to do after having been confronted with the reality of this new world he found himself in.
Harry Potter hadn't been a stranger to death, but he hadn't been a close companion either. Most wizards didn't kill for fear of damage to the soul. He had put hundreds of dark wizards in prison, but the number he had personally killed had been just shy of a dozen.
After the second wizarding war, he couldn't think of anyone in his social circle who'd actually been killed. Witches and wizards could simply shake off a lot of injuries, and ones that put muggles in hospitals for months or years could be taken care of in a day with a potion.
Maester Luwin had put some things into perspective for him.
Some part of Robb had undeniably looked at the problems of the people of this world with something akin to haughty indifference. Like all witches and wizards, as he spent less time with muggles, he grew more dismissive of them; until he became entirely so once he spent all his time in the wizarding world.
It had seemed like just yesterday that Ron had joked with him about the muggles he had confunded to get his driver's license.
No matter how much love Robb had felt for his new family, in his mind that haughty indifference was always there.
He had his magic and would never really be in any true danger: be it from man, hunger, or the elements.
He was free to indulge in his wants, his desires.
His conversation with Maester Luwin had shown him that, in a way, he had never really considered the problems of his family and the North as his own. He'd always dismissed talk from the guards and other household members of their problems as nothing so important.
Of course, they saw him as just a boy of four, Robb himself knew he was much and more, and could have taken such talk with the seriousness it deserved in his mind at least.
This realization of his had caused something in him to slowly click in place.
What did he want to do?
More than just his family, he wanted the people around him to do and live well. He had come to care for the members of the Stark household.
Robb had no intentions of being a saint in this world, but fulfilling his desires and bringing prosperity weren't mutually exclusive. Indeed, they could be mutually beneficial even.
He would turn this dreary, frozen wasteland into his own slice of heaven. He had the power to do it, he knew.
And as a strong resolve and sense of purpose filled Robb, he felt a spark run through his being. He felt a weight settle in his hand and smiled.
Twirling the deathstick, numerous plans started to flit through his mind. Robb had never been one for subtlety, but he would have to cultivate some. Being head auror had taught him that while a single individual was important, it was the strength of the organization as a whole that was most important. Therefore, he would have to plan in a way that would bring everyone up.
Everyone would need to be strong, for he had no intentions of being a constant problem solver.
He had maidens to romance and bed!
A/N:
The most serious chapter I'll ever do for this story.
I always find it kind of odd that people immediately start thinking about implementing some kind of uplift.
I think people are inherently focused on themselves, so I wanted a transition chapter to show Robb going from being focused almost entirely on what he wants, to including a little bit of what other people want too.
Harry Potter was pretty selfless, but that trait has been tempered to an extent by his adult life in this AU.
In the next chapter, we get to see magic finally.
