I need to kill what to get a time travel coupon? Chapter 7
AN: Welcome back everyone, I hope you are all doing fine. Let's hope I can continue the trend of getting a chapter out in less time than the time between chapter 5 and chapter 6. Now, good luck and have an enjoyable time reading.
Disclaimer: The author doesn't own either Game of Thrones or Star Wars, in either case their programming would have been very different if I did. Whether it would be any better, is anyone's guess, but it would have been very different.
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Winterfell, where we left off last time.
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As the small force finishes dismounting from their flying ships, Eddard is still staring at the duo of either unknown surviving Targaryens or Blackfires, who are now being herded to among the group of white armoured soldiers by a middle aged man and woman. However as he is doing so something pops up in the back of his mind: 'If they let the two children who are very obviously in some way connected to the previous rulers of Westeros, hated by the current Royal Family, just walk around without anything truly hiding them, why is that woman hiding herself to such a degree.' As he looks while she moves closer, he can see a bit into the hood, and sees skin a shade of red or orange…
''Ser Waters, Ser Skywalker and Lady Tano, could I speak with the three of you in my Solar. I have a number of questions, and you are likely to also have some, so we might as well get those out of the way.'' The group opposite him shares a few looks before giving their agreement, as he moves back into the castle and sends Jory to go get his wife, while asking Roderick to follow him. He wishes for there to be as few secrets as possible, what with the fairly big one that's already there.
He leads them through the halls, to his Solar, while on the way he asks a serving girl, a recent hire called Bethany he believed, to go bring some refreshments. As he opens the door and leads them in, he bids them to seat themselves, while several guards station themselves near the door. In spite of the assurance of peaceful behaviour through the bread and salt, he is prepared for the worst, as he makes sure Ice will be easy to draw even when he's seated. He observes them for a bit first, before the refreshments arrive, followed moments later by Catelyn.
As he thanks the girl, he quickly whispers out the situation so far to his wife before they sit down on his side of the desk. ''Now that she is here, might I introduce my beautiful wife, Catelyn Stark.'' Catelyn smiles slightly at the introduction, though she looks suspiciously between the three sitting opposite of them. Skywalker speaks up for the group at this point.
''A pleasure to meet her, and I shall introduce us. My name is Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight and general in charge of the League's armies. With me are my good friend and our leader, Chancellor Lawrence Waters,'' he nods to the older man before shifting his head ''And Ahsoka Tano, Jedi knight and second in command of the League's armies.'' As Eddard nods at the re-introduction, he sees his wife look on frowning at all of it. A bastard and a woman knight… yes I can see why my wife already has a less than great image of this.
She speaks up ''A pleasure to be introduced, though I wish to know, just why is Lady Tano still covered up with a cloak? Should she not show us her face, to let us see just whom we are dealing with if nothing else?'' The three sitting opposite them seem to exchange a look before the aforementioned woman looks at Catelyn once more.
''I am more than fine with that, but you were the one to ask for it.'' As Ahsoka says this, she pulls back the cloak, showing her face and her orange skin with white patches, and blue and white facial appendages. She gives Catelyn a smile, while her face is frozen in shock. Eddard himself is less shocked that she has a strange appearance, what with how they didn't even try hiding the dragon children, but did hide her. However even with that, he is still greatly surprised and shocked, to see a woman that is almost certainly not another human.
He recovers from his shock faster, but quickly takes a look at the other two others sitting besides her. Lawrence seems to look on with some sympathy for the shocked woman, likely having experienced something similar the first time they met. Anakin very clearly however does not, instead looking at Ahsoka with a smile. His wife points at her and with a slow, cautious voice utters ''Demon. Demon from the seven hells.''
While Anakin now turns towards Catelyn, anger visible in his eyes. The 'Demon' in question gives a gesture similar to a raised eyebrow ''Okay this is a more extreme reaction than that of the vast majority of priests of the Seven in White Harbour.'' As she talks however Catelyn scrambles out of her chair, and moves back making various signs and symbols of the seven all the while.
''While my wife's reaction might be seen as a bit over the top, I do wish to know what you are if not a demon like she believes. For though I do not share the thought, you do look similar to the Sevens description of them.'' However, while he is saying so, he readies himself to jump in, just in case. Ahsoka holds up her hands in a pacifying gesture. Seemingly not only for their benefit, but also for her companion Anakin, who looks to have taken affront to Catelyn's description of the Tano.
''That is fine, I'm Ahsoka Tano, as said a moment ago by my friend and leader. As for my species, I am a Togruta from the planet Shili. Think of it as a similar situation to the children of the forest or the Giants, but then I came from amongst the stars instead of being born on this planet, together with Anakin and the vast majority of our soldiers.'' Eddard thinks on her words for a moment, looking to her companions, who both support the statement.
While he is uncertain to take someone at their word on such a claim, in this case it could very well be true. After all they could fly through the sky faster than any dragon had been said to do, if they had a far larger ship or ships they might be able do the same among the stars. And on top of all this, he can feel his Wolfsblood, it is indicating that she at the very least believes she's telling the truth. On its own, that would not be enough, but with the supporting factors…
Eddard makes a decision, and as he stands up he moves back to be besides his wife, before hugging her to himself as she whispers ''Ned, a demon, we need to get out of here, we need to…'' before she can finish he shushes softly and places a kiss on the top of her head. It seems to calm her down a decent amount, but she is still looking uncertain. Roderick, who had been standing in the corner quietly, seemed to finally have recovered from his own surprise and looked at him, motioning if he should do something. Eddard shakes his head in the mans direction before turning his attention back to his wife.
''Look at her, and look at how she behaves. Would a demon be like this, would it have been able to go along with all this, and if nothing else, if demons had the power to make flying ships like those, why would they go through the effort of talking instead of simply bombarding us until Wintertown was filled with rubble and ruins. Rather than that, they came down here to talk to us, and she's surrounded by humans with even two children among the group from the flying ships.'' By now Catelyn has mostly calmed down as her husband's calm reasoning starts getting through to her.
She blushes slightly, moving herself slightly out of the half hug and instead turning towards the group, curtsying slightly ''My deepest apologies for my behaviour. I was overcome by fear at your resemblance to the description of one of the most dangerous demons described in the Seven Pointed Star. I should have realized a demon like that wouldn't be able to get here how you did or function normally among civilised people.'' As she apologizes, the tension in the room ebbs away for the most part.
Ahsoka gives her a smile and stands up from her chair to walk closer, and offers her hand ''Then let us start over, hi my name is Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight and second in command of the armies of the League of the Golden Fields. Who might you be?'' Catelyn stares at the other woman's hand for a moment, looking surprised and uncertain while also very hesitant from the description before she holds out her own hand to accept and shakes it.
''Good day Lady Tano, my name is Catelyn Stark, formerly Tully of Riverrun, wife to Lord Paramount Eddard Stark of the North.'' After they shake hands, they both move back to their seats. Eddard moves back to his as well, and now trying to get this discussion back on track.
''Now that we have dealt with that, I understand why you hid your appearance, but why did you not hide the appearance of the Dragon Children that are with you? And just how did a small group of Westerosi nobility come to lead a nation in Essos able to field flying ships?'' As Eddard asks the question, Lawrence perks up.
''I can answer that fairly easily, Lord Stark.'' The attention turns towards the older man ''I am Lawrence Waters, and those two are my niece and nephew. They are the children of my cousin, who was the son of a Targaryen bastard and my aunt, who was a Rochefort. We fled to Essos after being ordered by the hand of the King to hand over my cousin and said aunt for execution. Me and my half-sister refused, with our most loyal knight siding with us against the direct orders of his Great Uncle, the then Lord Paramount of the Vale and the indirect orders from his king.''
As he continues telling his tale, he is stopped only occasionally by lord and lady Stark, the both of them and Roderick interested in the tale of how he and his family had lived through the decades, how they had loved, lost and regained. Near the end he comes to the more modern events ''And then, out of nowhere, there was a giant ship sailing the sky, with smaller gunships leaving and landing, the same type that we used to get here,'' as he continues from there, Anakin and Ahsoka start jumping in more, to provide context and explain the situations that Lawrence wasn't there for. They also hand over some pre prepared papers, with potential trade goods they could provide and a rough summary of what their assistance in other fields would contain.
They all put in their best effort, after all, this was their best moment to pitch a positive relation and to put all diplomatic skill they had onto it. For if they succeeded, they could have far easier access to the region they needed not only for the political needs of the presence, in the form of an alliance with the few other powers that stood against slavery, like they had in Braavos. But also for the operating base to fight the war that they had been called to this world for, a war against hordes of the undead coming from north of the giant Wall.
''And so we fought off the small Slaver army, and we have peace for now, but how long until they regain their confidence and manage to unite with various other groups. When that happens, we want to have allies, and we offer those allies a number of things, such as advanced communications technology, assistance with agricultural and technological development. With last, but certainly not least, also opening the option for large scale trade of Essosi goods such as various spices and silks with people that are both not slavers and will ask far more reasonable prices for our products than the greedy Merchant Princes.''
Eddard Stark could be seen to mull over the thought of all this, while his wife looks to be in deep thought. ''I am interested in hearing of these proposals, though I am unsure of how King Robert would react to all this. Do you have some ways to prove more of not only your goodwill but also the truth of your tale? The flying ships and the woman looking like no human I've ever met go a long way, but it is still almost too insane to believe even with the proof of it staring me in the face, let alone how it would be like for the King who would hear about this through letters.''
Anakin smiles at the man ''Well, for a start we could install a radio communication centre here, similar to the one we installed in White Harbour. Then we could provide another form of proof to you through direct communication with them, and later on through similar direct communication between the King and these various locations. This in addition to giving a ruler the chance of almost immediate communication with a number of his vassals and the potential trade profits should allow us to convince him.''
Eddard is still contemplative, however he grimaces and gives a signal to Roderick, who opens the door and signals something down the hall. A bit later, a fairly young guardsman enters the room. ''This is Jory, he'll lead you to the main dining hall, the others accompanying you should still be there.'' He goes silent for a moment before continuing ''While I do believe at least the vast majority of your story, and am intrigued by your proposal for a number of reasons, I feel I need to talk it over and think about it before we give you any definitive answers. In the meantime you will be our honoured guests.''
Before the group can leave however, some time is spent in waiting as Jory stares at Ahsoka, extremely surprised by her appearance. After a minute or so of this and the reactions he stammers out, Roderick walks up behind him and gives him a soft slap on the back of his head. ''Lord Stark gave you orders, boy. Go enact them and stop staring at the lady like you've never seen a woman before.'' Knowing full well that was not why he stared, but it helps shock the young man back into action.
After the group leaves the room as Jory leads them to the main dining hall, Lord Stark rubs his forehead, feeling the headache from the future arguments with Robert even more now already, in addition to the actual information revealed by the visitors. ''This is going to be an issue. Denying their offer would be a horrible idea from a mercantile, military or diplomatic perspective, but if Roberts hatred towards all things Targaryen also applies to Bastard children who carry the look and name, he might try ordering me to break off any starting diplomatic relations and try killing them. No matter what their status as guests would be at that point.''
Catelyn looks at him in complete surprise ''What would his grace find so horrible about the idea, he is literally the grandson of a Targaryen woman himself, and these people left the shores of Westeros decades ago. In addition they have no possible claim to the throne, nor do any of their caretakers seem to have an interest in supporting any anti Baratheon support so far. Especially since seemingly don't even know the specifics about the Rebellion. His hatred of those that took your sister, his betrothed and his less than good wishes to them as rivals for his claim to the throne couldn't possibly extend to them.'' As she speaks she looks at her husband, and grows less certain about the statement she just made ''If nothing else, the two of you are close as brothers right? You could call upon that to calm his initial fury so that he can grasp all the benefits, or at least not react violently from the start.''
Eddard looks at his wife with less than focused eyes upon hearing her claim ''You weren't there when he laughed about the death of children and the rape of a woman who had done nothing wrong, weren't there when he congratulated their murderers or shouted his wish for all to hear of killing the surviving children in even more horrific ways.'' He shakes his head for a moment ''In most subjects I would be able to sway him, that I'm certain of. But this is the one thing that he'll likely not listen to me about. Back in the capital, if it wasn't for Jon Arryn intervening we would have outright fought about it in the throne-room, I had already slapped him for talking about the boys brain being bashed in and the mothers murder rape as if it was some great victory.''
He stands up and walks over to the window looking out worriedly ''So yes, while I am hoping that he'll see my point of view and actually want to negotiate, or even that he will realise they had nothing to do with the Targaryen family here in Westeros for decades before the Rebellion even began. That doesn't change the fact that there is a good chance he will just call upon me to start a fight with people I have given guest rights to, for no reason other than his wish to have all those carrying the Targaryen name dead.''
He paces some as Catelyn looks worried as her husband sinks into contemplation and she thinks on the subject sombrely. She didn't want an issue with their new visitors, if any of what they were told is true this is a great opportunity.
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Main dining hall
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As they sit down at the table and eat, a lot of the locals are staring at Ahsoka. Some with fear, many with interest, some with both. And a small number with looks that make Anakin glare at them without fully understanding why he's doing so, after all its Snips but she is a grown woman by now. As they eat and drink from the hearty, if simple meal that has been served however, an older woman walks up to them. She looks at them in a way similar to how Yoda looked at things that interested him, the 'eccentric wise elder lookTM'.
As she gets closer she asks Fives, who's currently sitting opposite of Anakin, to move from his seat. After a look at his commanders, he does so, and the elder woman sits down and looks the men up and down, before staring at Ahsoka. ''Now I've seen many things throughout my life, including a number of them that most people would never believe possible. But I haven't seen one like you just yet. What are you here for?''
She raises an eyebrow at the older woman in response ''Well usually people introduce themselves before they ask that kind of question. A bit rude not to, isn't it?'' The older woman gives a smile in response to the small barb, as Ahsoka keeps looking at her.
''I am the one they call Old Nan, the oldest woman in Winterfell, well met. I've been a nurse and storyteller here since any of those alive can remember. And as I said, I have seen many things, and heard of far more, but I have never seen or heard about one like you.''
Ahsoka nods in return ''My name is Ahsoka Tano, commander in the army of the League of the Golden Fields.'' She gives the older woman a hand to shake across the table, which is accepted, before she continues. ''And to answer your earlier question, I am here to negotiate a trade deal and for diplomatic arrangements.''
Old Nan smiles at her ''And would you be willing to tell me some stories from the League of the Golden Fields or wherever you are originally from?''
After thinking for a moment Ahsoka nods ''Sure, if in exchange for my stories you tell me some stories about that giant wall we've heard about and the land north of it.'' She gets a confirming nod from the older woman sitting opposite of her. Before the conversation can continue however, a giant man stumbles into the hall with a bleeding hand, and Old Nan rushes up to him with unexpected speed, as she starts seemingly scolding while also comforting the young man while she leads him out of the hall.
Anakin and Ahsoka exchange a glance ''Well, that was an interesting meeting to say the least. Now how'' before he can say another word there is a shout from the other side of the hall, and they hear 'DEMON!' from a shrill voice before turning to face it. As they look upon the woman, she is a thin tall woman clad in the robes of a septa, her face white as she stares at Ahsoka. By her side two knights hands move to their weapons.
''Men of Winterfell, why are you not destroying the Demon in your midst, she who sits among you at your dining table, a demon from the seven hells, she needs to be destroyed! Holy fire from a pyre should deal with her well enough!'' Murmurs spread through the hall, a sizable portion of those present just look at her confused, while the visitors from Essos instead are growing less than happy, with angry murmurs from them about who this woman thinks she is to insult their commander.
Anakin stands up, angrily staring at the Septa ''I've had it with you Seven botherers accusing her of being a Demon, I fought side by side with this woman for years and love her as if she was my sister, you are not getting your blasted hands on her.'' His lightsabre appears in his hand and turns on ''Or I'll relieve you of said hands if you dare to try.'' The situation escalates, with the knights on the Septa's side now drawing their swords, along with the four men-at-arms they had brought with them drawing their own weapons. Several of the clone troopers draw their side arms in response.
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Back in the solar
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As some time has passed, they have discussed a few options, but so far they haven't found anything that has a good chance of working. Some shot down by Eddard for the simple fact that it simply wouldn't work on Robert, others shot down for problems they could cause among the other nobles. Even Roderick occasionally chimes in, but eventually the three of them are in a contemplative silence for a while, with Eddard standing in front of the window again.
After a while however, Catelyn speaks up again, her face lighting up ''But what if we made sure that they weren't Targaryen.'' Eddard stops and turns towards her, questioning but hopeful ''As you said, a large part of the issue is that Robert wants everyone with the name Targaryen gone, likely even the bastard children. But if our visitors are to be believed, they were children born from a proper marriage, or well as proper as they can be, between a tribal princess and a son of the house of Rochefort, even if said son happened to also have silver hair.'' She says that last part less happily than the rest, as in spite of the far different appearance, it makes her think of the young boy with her husbands looks that is not hers in the house.
Neds eyes light up as well ''And with that we could get them instated as members of the house of Rochefort, with the caveat to renounce any claim on the throne forever, as they've already offered. If we bring it right, with the addition that their whole reason for being gone was the Targaryen Monarch ordering their families execution, it can be brought up as little more than an unfortunate house suffering the cruelty of the Dragons now returning home.'' He grabs her up in a hug and kisses her ''Thank you for this Cat, we will need to work it out more and present it to them later but that is a wonderful idea. You are a genius.'' She smiles happily at him.
Roderick softly opens the door to leave the room, happy to leave them alone with this as he can hear ''Well if I'm such a genius, you could always show your appreciation milord…''. Before he can actually leave or even be asked to leave however, he hears footsteps running their way hurriedly through the halls. He quickly readies himself for a fight and can hear that his Lord has disengaged from the soft conversation with his wife to instead grab Ice and move in front of her. Roderick calms after he recognizes the face of the guard running up to him, but the mans worried look means he's still on guard.
''Captain, there's a fight ongoing in the central courtyard between one of the visiting knights from Riverrun and the orange skinned woman from Essos!'' As Roderick hears his Lord cursing both of them are already moving to the courtyard, lady Catelyn not far behind them with the guard moving alongside them. As they walk the man continues to explain ''The Septa that joined Lady Stark from Riverrun started proclaiming her to be a demon that needed to be killed, with the visiting knights joining in on her side of the argument, it escalated into a challenge being declared.'' Eddard rushes forward once they reach the stairwell, almost flying through the stairs as Roderick loses sight of him.
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In the courtyard
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As Ahsoka now stands against the knight, she laments the situation that led to this. She had only wanted to have a nice meal, and now she had to deal with the local xenophobes, just why did they keep thinking here that she was a Demon here? Back in White Harbour she got almost none of these reactions, even those from the clergy where far calmer and more reserved. So the immediate accusations made for an interesting, if very annoying, difference.
She does a few test swings with her swords, the longsword and a short sword, before readying looking over at her opponent. He was wearing gambeson jacket and a chainmail shirt, with a tabard over it with two towers over the ensemble, all the while wielding his longsword with both hands. He was taller than her, but not by much and while how he held the sword spoke of both training and combat experience, his stance not so much, so he probably mostly fought from horseback.
Jory Cassel, the young man that had led them to the dining hall, was officiating the fight. ''Are both parties ready?'' She gave a nod, and the knight opposite her returned the favour. ''Then let this duel commence, until either party surrenders or is incapacitated.'' He lowered his hand, stepped back and the knight moved forward, eager to take the offensive. She parried his first overhead strike, then parried a second hit the right with her main blade before moving in for a stab with her offhand.
She quickly realized her earlier assessment was correct, as the man opposite her barely managed to stumble back to avoid being hit, and she quickly pressed on the offensive. A slash to the right from her at full strength was barely stopped, and sent him stumbling back further, as she quickly moved around to the left, forcing him to turn with her as she kept performing light hits towards his torso that he barely parried or blocked. The moment he tried retaking the offensive with an overhand slash towards her left shoulder, she used her offhand to parry while moving out of the way, sending him stumbling forward before she hit him hard in the back of his knee with her main sword, turning his stumble into a fall to his knee before she slapped away a desperate backwards stab of his sword while kicking him in his back with enough force to send him headfirst into the ground of the training yard.
The point of her offhand blade was resting on his neck the next moment, one foot on his back the other next to him ''Do you concede?'' He got out an affirmative, and she glanced at Jory, who nodded and called her as the victor. She sheathed her main blade, moved away slightly and offered the man a hand to assist in standing up. He was obviously not happy with the result, but seemed to be willing enough to accept the hand before the septa from before started shouting.
''Don't sully your soul with the touch of the Daemon, Jeremiah Frey.'' The septa continues ''She has only proven to be capable of guile, misdirection and cheating, she has not proven herself your better in honourable combat. Nor proven any innocence in the matter of being a Daemon. For she has only bested one combatant in the holy challenge in the light of the Seven.''
Lawrence, who had been watching speaks up while Anakin, Ahsoka and the clones there look confused ''Septa, forgive me for saying this, but how exactly are you intending on holding a challenge of the Seven. Not only do you need seven warriors on your side, it's the intent that the other side also has seven warriors and that the number of won duels determine who is favoured by the Seven Who are One in this situation. It can be done with only the one warrior on the other side, but then you would still need a total of seven on your side.'' A large argument breaks out at this point between the various people and groups in the courtyard, some of it looking as if it might turn to violence.
Just then, the doors to the courtyard slams open and Eddard walks out ''Just what is going on here.'' As his cold voice can be heard by all, in spite of his voice not truly being raised the courtyard turns silent as he looks around. He settles his gaze on the Septa ''Could you explain just what you were thinking when you started demanding for one of my guests to be killed after she had accepted guest rights?''
The septa sputters ''But milord, she's clearly a demon, her skin is orange, she has horns with two different colours throughout of all things instead of hair and…'' as the woman trails off at the hard stare of the Lord Paramount of the North, the crowd around the courtyard has calmed down a fair bit. She finds her courage again a moment later though ''Milord she cannot possibly be anything other than a demon from the Seven Hells!''
Eddard responds in a calm manner, but with a voice that could freeze a desert ''She is a guest, from Essos. Her being different from humans is no different from how the children of the forest are different from humans. She has accepted guest rights, and has not taken any action to break those guest rights. She was in a meeting with me and my wife, less than an hour before she went down to the dining hall, and if she meant harm she could have easily acted during that time.'' He turns towards Ahsoka ''If you do not wish for it, you do not have to partake in this duel and I can keep her away from you for the remainder of your visit.''
As he looks at her, Ahsoka replies ''Lord Stark, if possible I would be willing to go through with this trail of the Seven to prove my innocence in the matter and lay the accusations to rest.'' As the Septa's eyes start swelling with a feeling of victory, Ahsoka continues ''However with the caveats that we hold it tomorrow and I can get one of my allies to support me in the challenge. To make sure nobody can remove any legitimacy from the event, and prove my full innocence, I request you provide the most capable warrior available to join them for the challenge, to fill it out to seven warriors on their sides.''
The Septa seems a bit sour that the 'Demon' was giving her own conditions for the match, but Eddard looks thoughtful for a moment before replying ''Those are well within the bounds of the rules of a challenge of the Seven, however would you prefer the seven one on one duels, or the battle of seven against your group? In the latter case I would advise getting more than a singular companion for support.'' She smiles violently at the Lord Paramount.
''I'd prefer the second option, and no I feel certain that we will not need more support to complete this challenge successfully.'' As he nods at her in acceptance of her statement, she then moves towards Anakin ''So how do you feel about kicking the asses of a few overly religious windbags?'' She gets a violent smile in return from him, giving her more then enough answer as she grabs his hand. ''Good, then we are going to get you a steel practice sword, need to make sure that nobody can complain we won unfairly.''
Behind them however, the Septa and her supporters are now seemingly begging Lord Stark for something, and she is uncertain what it is about. However, as she waits later on while Anakin and the local blacksmith are discussing a good option for a steel practice sword for him, Catelyn walks up to her, clearly looking uncertain. ''Lady Stark, what can I do for you?''
''Are you set on only having the two warriors on your side for the duel, I could likely convince both my husband and the Septa for having more than the one supporting warrior.'' As Ahsoka looks at her with a gesture similar to a raised eyebrow, Catelyn continues though clearly looking surprised ''From your defeat of Jeremiah and your tale in the Solar I know you are a capable knight yourself, however that doesn't change the fact that not only will you be facing seven enemies, one of them will be my husband.''
Ahsoka looks at her questioningly ''I know that I asked for him to fill in an additional warrior to bring them to the number Seven as that seems an important part of this whole thing, overcoming seven opponents to prove your side, but why would Lord Stark be one of them?''
Catelyn gets a small smile ''Ned is one of the most capable warriors of the whole realm, he has fought and won a fight with Arthur Dayne, the man previously considered to be the most capable swordsman alive. He has also fought and won against numerous other knights and somewhat well known combatants throughout Roberts Rebellion. There are probably five men that have a good chance to win a proper duel against him in the entirety of the Seven kingdoms. And none of them are currently in Winterfell.''
Ahsoka's smile only grows ''Then that means I'll actually get a good fight out of this, good to know. Thank you for the concern Lady Stark, and I'll be sure to watch out. But even if your husband will manage to start beating me, Anakin will make short work of the men accompanying him and together we'll be more than able to win this.'' In her mind, she was delivering it softly, after all, she was a great duellist back in her home galaxy and Anakin was one of the best combatants alive. This in addition to her having proper formal training in using the force in combat, even if Eddard was a great fighter, she would win without too much trouble.
Catelyn held a more reserved look, clearly not believing her. She also seemed annoyed at her, before she schooled her expression, wished her luck and walked away. Moments later, Anakin walked out of the blacksmith's workshop, a longsword in hand. They immediately went to a courtyard to train and familiarize themselves some more with the local swords. On the way, they also picked up the Rochefort children, both of whom really liked the idea of watching them train. A few of the clone troopers were also with them, sitting besides the children watching said match and after the two Jedi took a short break Fives asked ''Why don't you guys just use those training Lightsabers? Should be able to fight a bit better with those than with a weapon you aren't used to.''
Anakin chuckled as he sat down, while the Rochefort children lean in on to listen. ''Well you remember how Obi-Wan had this habit of losing his lightsaber in battles?'' Fives thinks on it for a moment, and can remember some examples as he nods ''Well somehow this has seemingly been passed down through his teaching of me and my teaching of Ahsoka, so we occasionally also end up in situations where we don't have our lightsabres. And especially here, where it's even harder to replace them if lost, its important for us to learn a bit on how to adept our styles to the local weaponry.''
Ahsoka follows up ''Additionally, like I mentioned when we were leaving that crowd behind, its also a lot harder for people to claim we only won by somehow cheating with our weapons if we were to use any form of lightsaber, practice or not. We'll likely already get enough looks for discreet uses of the Force, even if they don't recognise it, no need to give them more reason to complain.''
Fives seems to think for a moment before shrugging his shoulders ''Fair enough. Though are you sure this is the right time to test it? I mean I full on believe in you, but from the gossip we've heard this Lord Stark is considered a great fighter locally.'' Ahsoka looked at him from the corner of her eyes, the local lady she understood, not only did Catelyn not truly know what she and Anakin were capable of but it was also her husband she was talking about, but now one of their own men was cautioning them?
Anakin smiles violently at the friend he had mourned ''That only makes it better, we can actually truly test ourselves.'' He stood up and walked into the rough circle they had set up again ''Okay Snips, ready again whenever you are.'' She smiles at him as well, and for the next two hours as they practice once more, visibly adapting more and more to the blades throughout. At that point, a servant arrives in the courtyard, to serve as their guide to the groups various rooms.
Many of their group had already been settled in, but with dinner approaching soon and the events to come the following day, it was decided to stop practice and follow her to said rooms to freshen up a bit and prepare. However as they do so, something is nagging both Anakin and Ahsoka in the back of their heads, as they feel like they've forgotten something. But what could it be?
.
AN: And that's a wrap for this time. A bit of a shorter chapter than the last one, but I didn't want there to be more than a year between chapters again, and it will be a while before I can write further. So rather than one chapter of almost 13k words, you will all get this chapter of almost 7500 words, and another chapter of a bit more than 5000 words a while from now.
Reviews:
Juliasimon77 on the 24th of March:
A masterwork of storytelling that pulses with raw intensity, weaving threads of fate, longing, and quiet revelation into an unforgettable tapestry. Every character breathes with a depth that defies the page flawed yet luminous, their struggle carving echoes of our own joys and sorrows.
The prose is a symphony: elegant yet unforced, each word chosen with the precision of an artist shaping light and shadow. Scenes unfold with a cinematic grace moments of hushed vulnerability giving way to thunderous emotion, leaving an imprint that lingers long after the final passage. Neither confined by genre nor bound by convention, this is a story that transcends, a journey that doesn't just unfold but unravels, drawing the reader into a world at once distant and deeply intimate. It is not merely read it is felt, an experience to be carried, pondered, and revisited like a beloved relic of time itself.
Reply: I thank you for the compliment, though I feel uncertain whether you were reading my story before giving this damn good poetry about literature. Since I'm pretty certain that its an entertaining read and all, but not some literary masterpiece. Still, thanks for the compliment, and one in return for the great poetry you wrote down here.
Guest on the 24th of march:
Cool
Reply: Always good to hear somebody likes it.
Agusfedredhunter on the 26th of March:
Just to confirm, the Targaryen children, are the refugee children that the current Chancellor of the Golden League took and are now pseudo padawans of Anakin and Ahsoka?
I just ask why I remember little reading that part, but well. It is a good touch to see that Ned has small traumas about everything that happened during Roberts Rebellion, especially with the theme of his sister as well as the cries of his friend regarding the albinos descended from Ancient Valyria.
Keep it that way!
Hey, one suggestion, you can get Anakin to communicate with that deity and somehow, show him a little bit of other universes, so he can come up with ideas about what to do in his spare time and improve his troops. Or help Essos and Westeros start advancing technologically.
I would tell you to get Anakin to suggest to Ned that he implement a census system, that can help a lot to the North, but knowing that there is the problem of the White Walkers, I guess all of this happens very close to the series.
Reply: Yes, like covered again in this chapter, they're the children of Lawrence's cousin, who was a Targaryen bastard. They were essentially brought up by Lawrence's half sister and her husband after the kids parents died when said kids were very young. And yeah I probably underdeveloped the interactions between Anakin, Ahsoka and them a bit, it's planned for them to become more active characters during this initial portion of the story in Westeros.
And well, his worry about Roberts reactions to Targaryen children, is probably going to stay a thing in the story for a long time. Because Ned will always keep worrying about the dangers for his nephew. Though this is happening around 15 years before the start of Canon, so there is time to implement some changes and improvements, though Anakin won't get in contact with deities for some time. But still just seeing that all those advances are possible alone and the faster communication will already allow for some technological advances in Westeros.
Ceps on the 2nd of April:
Oh yeah this story is so stupidly forgettable I never can remember I hate until I read the part where armor meant to withstand blasters is beating with arrows.
Reply: …You literally put the answer to the question as to why that's nowhere near as strange as you think in your own sentence. Its meant to withstand blasters. Energy weapons who's main source of damage is heat and energy transferred. Arrows do kinetic damage. This, in addition to the fact that heavy crossbows and longbows do more damage per hit, albeit spread out over a slightly larger area, than the vast majority of modern guns, means that with a volley of hundreds of the things hitting something, at least a few of them will do some serious damage.
Similar reason why bows and arrows are dangerous weapons against modern helicopters if they fly over low. The things will if shot from a good bow by a strong man or woman have as good a chance of getting through the glass or sides of the things as bullets do. Just because something is less advanced doesn't mean it immediately can't do damage to the more advanced things, because those are usually built with modern dangers in mind that are dangerous for very different reasons than the older weapons. Modern bulletproof vests similarly don't properly protect against large melee weapons or arrows, because nobody expects the enemy to be using those weapons when they design and manufacture said vests.