FicWad

EDRIC

We had been traveling for days, from Storm’s End to King’s Landing. I got to know Margaery quite well. Every night we would tell each other tales of our adventures on Earth. And it had quickly become apparent that we were from two very different Earths. Her Earth was full of people with powers, some of who would put on masks and get in public brawls. Some of them did magic, but their magic was treated like just another superpower. There was no magical government, nor were their Dark Lords of the type I was used to. We had also learned of each other that we had both been adults before we had been born into this world. We were becoming quite close. Her science looked like magic to me and my magic looked like just another superpower to her. And so, when I went to hide behind a tree, supposedly to empty my bladder, but actually to get my morning owl, I didn’t need to hide what I was doing from her.

“What does he say?” asked Margaery, as she saw me reading the latest letter from Joffrey.

“He found out about his parents,” I replied, “That he’s an incestuous bastard his mother made with her own brother. Now he and his brother and his true father are on their way to take the Black. And he wrote it in his own blood! If he had asked me I would have told him to never do something so foolish! In the wrong hands, a wizard could do all kinds of awful things to him using his blood!”

“I could easily see my grandmother wiggling he fingers and saying: “Do you know what these are? The Wrong Hands!”,” laughed Margaery. “It’s no wonder the King wants the Stormlander knights back in King’s Landing!”

“I’ll send him some ink and a quill with my next letter,” stated Edric.


JON

We’d been smelling the bad smell for hours. But when we crested the hill overlooking King’s Landing, the stench made me want to wretch.

“It’s worse than I remember it,” gasped my father, Lord Stark.

“It’s worse than AYE remember it,” agreed the King.

“It’s that Richard Saunders,” observed Tyrion. “sells pages of paper with the latest news on it. And order to make that paper, he built a factory. But he didn’t keep the secret of paper making to himself. He shared it in his news paper with everyone in King’s Landing. Now, every one and his dog have set up their own paper mill. And these paper mills are just adding to the stench King’ Landing already had from the piss and shit and sweat of half a million people.”
“Why would anyone want to live like that?” asked Bran, as Summer and Ghost whined their disapproval.

“They come to the city because that’s where the jobs are,” I replied. “Some of them came here to hide because they are running away from something. We’re going there because father and I have a duty to perform and you are here because you want to become a knight, and being my padw-, my page is the first step in that direction.

The stench only got worse, the closer we got to the city. I was appalled at all the human and horse waste on the streets, the abject poverty, the hunger in the eyes of the people as we rode by. And from what I was told, we were not even riding through the really poor part of the city.

It was a relief to ride into the Red Keep, To take a bath and change clothes. I ended up with some of Joffrey’s old servants, who were used to making large amounts of boiled water for drinking and baths.

After Bran and I had bathed and changed, a guard came to escort us to the dinning hall. Prince Stanis and his family had arrived before us and I was finally going to meet my betrothed. I had been warned repeatedly not to mention her greyscale scars.

“There he is! The Man who made the Mountain flee!” boomed Robert.

“You grace,” I said, as I bowed to the King and Bran imitated me.

“Come on in Ser Jon, I want you to meet your Betrothed!” shouted Robert.

I looked over and saw the girl who could only be the King’s niece, Shireen. She was just a scared little girl. I came over to her knelt so I could look her in the eye.

“You’re too young for me. But that will not alway be true. With time the difference in our ages won’t matter. And when that day comes, I want you to know,” I said as I reached out and cupped her cheek, placing my hand right on her scars. “that this will not matter to me at all.”

“Get Your Hands Off My Daughter!” growled Prince Stanis.

“No! Father! It’s alright!” protested Shireen. “He can touch me whenever he wants. After all, we are betrothed to be married some day.”




JOFFREY

After traveling North for what seems forever, we finally made it to Castle Black, at The Wall. Being new recruits, my brother and I were put under the training of a particularly nasty man named Ser Alister Thorne. He would yell and scream at us, seemingly angry no matter how good or badly we fought in the training yard. Between yelling, he would tell us gruesome tales about how hard it is up here and how we are all going to die next winter. He liked to come up with insulting nicknames for the recruits. Father already was know as the Kingslayer. I became Prince Waters and Tomen became Ser Kitty. Tomen was forced to give up his cat as soon as we arrived. There were cats here. But cats were working animals that lived on rats in the storerooms and the cats that were already here did not like Tomen’s cat in their territory, and drove him away. My lute did not last long either. I only got to play it once while here. I could tell Ser Alister didn’t like the music I played. The next day I came back from training to find my lute smashed and already burning in the fireplace.

After a month of Thorne’s abuse, it was time to take our oaths and become Brothers of the Night’s Watch. Father was assigned to the Rangers. Tomen and I were assigned to the Stewards, with Tomen becoming the Personal Steward of Maester Amon and myself becoming the personal Steward of Lord Commander Mormont. Tomen seems to like his assignment more than me, as he got to help wrangle the ravens. I was less happy with my assignment as a personal servant. I probably would have taken it worse, if I did not have memories of my past life and a childhood as a poor working class boy.

I was luckier than many of the recruits in that I had prior experience training with the sword. I took a little bit of ribbing for my fancy sword my Grandfather had given me. After I gave my oath, I was allowed to carry my sword, so I started openly wearing my valerian steel dagger too. All through our training, Benjen Stark had little contact with us, so I didn’t particularly care when he failed to come back from a ranging beyond the wall.


EDMURE

The great thing about being this world’s “inventor” of Jazz music is that I could claim songs by greater men than me as my own. Of course I had to change the names a bit. So ‘Basin Street Blues’, became ‘Riverrun Blues’ and ‘Mississippi Mud’ became ‘Green Fork Mud’ It was a great pleasure to introduce this world to not only my own songs, but all the great Jazz artists from my first life. And when I met the Crown Prince, Joffrey, it was humbling that when I told him my name from the past life that he had never heard of me. Of course he was from the future, and he admitted that he was not a Jazz fan. Even so, he knew a few Jazz tunes from what would be my future well enough to sing their melodies to me. Songs like: ‘Take the A Train’, ‘In the Mood’, and ‘Sing, Sing Sing!’ I found ‘Take 5’ to be particularly intriguing. But Joffrey was not so much a fanatic for Jazz as he was this other music that he played called “Rokenrole” The played me songs with names like ‘Jonny Be Goode’, ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’. They really set my mind in new directions. The next time, I saw Joffrey was when he was traveling North with his family to see my sister and her family: the Starks. Joffrey had written a whole bunch of slow love songs that sounded a lot like old Westerosi music, only much better. When I tried to talk music with him, he seemed to know a lot about music theory, but had no formal training, so he didn’t know the proper words to describe what he was doing. But he loved my newer compositions that I played for him. He also told me that his bastard brother was also from our world, from even further in the future than Joffrey was.

One of the great things about being a future Lord Paramount was that people wanted my attention. So if a member of my band was not working out, there were lots of small folk musicians just dying for a chance to play in my band. To my great pleasure, most of the ones I let go, started there own Jazz bands and began traveling around the Riverlands, spreading Jazz. As in turned out, having that extra 5-string banjo made, and giving it away turned out to be fortuitous. As I expected, the small folk too to it like a duck to water. Some of them became quite skilled at the 5-string version. And I soon replaced my 4 string player with a series of ever more skilled musicians that could play Jazz rhythm of a 5 string banjo. And my current one is a former harp player that has invented a way to pick the banjo with his fingers in a manner that is similar to classical guitar.

When I first started playing Jazz in this world, people didn’t know how to dance to it, so I tried to show them. I’m not much of a dancer. But people soon got the basic idea. And although the Septas thought it was scandalous, the Ladies at the court of Riverrun grew to love round dancing where they could touch more than their partner’s hand.

Racism in this world was both less bad and worse than the world I came from. It wasn’t so much tied to skin colour. So a Summer Islander was not hated for the colour of his skin. This was a great relief to me. In my previous life, racism and prevented me from playing with the people I considered my peers. But here, people the next village over were considered to be a different race, and thus treated with suspicion. My music was doing a lot to ease that and bring people together. But the way they talked about my sister’s husband and his people in the North, you would think they were a bunch of vikings! Actually, that viking analogy might not be wrong when applied to the Iron Born.

I was sorry, that the King, and especially Joffrey, had not stopped by on their way South. There were some really strange rumors going around. But for now, I was going to have to forget about music and concentrate on my duties as the Heir to Riverrun. Bandits were pillaging the Riverlands, and it was up to me to put a stop to it. In the early days my father had threatened to take music away in order to persuade me to train at sword fighting. And although I hated every minute of time spent swinging a sword instead of playing my trumpet, I grew to realize the necessity of it, and became the best swordsman I possibly could. As we rode down the “road”, which was really just a muddy path, arrows came shooting at us from out of the brush. My horse went down with the first volley, but I had been trained for this and landed on my feet, When the Bandit Cavalry charged out at us, I realized that they weren’t bandits and all. I had heard of him, but had never met him in person before. How can a horse carry someone so big? Gregore Clegaine, the Mountain that rides had me in his sights and was charging at me on his horse, his lance aimed right at me! I flexed me leg muscles to prepare to spring away at the last minute. But when I dodged, he corrected his aim to compensate and impaled me through the throat! As I went to the next world, I marveled that both my lives had been so brief. I wonder what the next one will be like?


TRYSTANE

As it turned out, My ship was bound for Maidenpool. I was happy to see the last of that ship. Wearing the face of a Summer Islander, I debarked the ship and headed for the nearest tavern. Even before I entered, the music coming out of it was surprising. How did Jazz become a thing in this world? Inside the pub, there was a trio of Trombone, banjo and a large clarinet-like instrument that had a sound that was like a hybrid of clarinet and sax. I slid up to the bar and kept my ears open for news of what was going on in Westeros. Apparently, the Bastard of Winterfell had defeated the entire Lannister army single-handedly and now the Kingslayer had taken the Black in shame, the Jazz music had been invented by the Heir of Riverrun and had become popular all over the Riverlands, the Baratheon brothers were massing their armies to fight each other over who would be King, and there is a band of bandits, led by a giant pillaging the Riverlands. Bingo!

After inquiring where the bandits were last seen, I changed my appearance to look more like a Riverlander and sprinted out into the night. I shifted into the wereworld and dropped the disguise to increase my speed. Although disguising my self as a knight and stealing a horse would help me blend in, I’m not that good at riding horses. Besides, when I’m like this, I can run further than a horse can run in a night. And it is more comforting to see the cacti and tumbleweeds of the wereworld than the trees and bushes that are actually in the Riverlands. When the sun came up, I would find a place to curl up and sleep after stealing a meal from some unlucky family. It took me three days before I caught up with them. A man was nailed, still alive to the outer wall of his farmhouse, but it didn’t look like he would be alive much longer. There was a dead woman laying at his feet, her clothes torn open. And my target was in the midst of raping a young woman. Similar scenes were playing out throughout the village. Many of the houses were on fire. But I didn’t care about the village. I was only here for one man: Greggor Clegane, the Mountain that Rides.


MARGAERY

I could smell King’s Landing long before we got there. I recognized the horrid smell of paper mills first, it carried much further than the overwhelming smell of human waste that was King’s Landing. The smoke stacks of multiple glass and paper factories rose up higher than the city wall. When the smell got too much to take, young Edric pulled out his wand and using that big lady knight as a human shield to hide from view, seraptisiosly he cast some sort of spell that gave the two of us a bubble of fresh air around our heads.

“If you get in water or smoke, the bubble head charm will become visible, so be careful with that,” warned Edric.

I was very thankful for that spell that saved me from smelling this awful city. And I was appalled at the abject poverty of this city, and I wasn’t even seeing the worst part. We were just going from the city gate to the Red Keep. But I resolved to visit the slums later. This city looked ripe for someone to take over the underworld. But for now, the winding path through all this poverty was heartbreaking Someone needs to help these people. Finally we made it to the Red Keep and were shown to our rooms. As the daughter of a Lord Paramount, I was given a luxurious room in the castle, as a page, Edric was no where near me, and had to sleep in the barracks with the other soldiers. Tonight I would attend a feast with the King. If the rumors are true, he is in the market for a new Queen. I could think of no one more suited than me.


SAMWELL

My various endeavors are going well. My Newspaper is widely read throughout the city even the illiterate buy it so that they can see the cartoons that make sport of the foils and foibles of the ruling class. As a result, ever more people are each day motivated to learn their letters. My paper mill has expanded enough to keep up with the demands placed on it by the broadsheet I publish. And many other entrepreneurs have opened their own paper mills. As a result, paper has transformed from a luxury Item to an everyday commodity that anyone can use, as it undercuts the price of parchment. My glass factory is also one of many. Their production has transformed glass from a precious substance to something even the poor can drink from. The capital raised from this commerce has allowed for me to acquire the quantities of various chemicals such as sulfur, and charcoal that I need for my drill team.

But then, my contact told me of the arrival of the King and his party. Amongst this lofty company was my friend of the quill, Jon Snow of Winterfell, who has recently been raised to the sublime title Ser Jon Stark, betrothed of the Princess. It is my sincere hope that we may be acquainted in person in all due haste.


TORMUND

“Here it comes,” called Orys, as he spotted the storm through the eyes of his eagle.

It had been a big risk going this far North. But it was necessary in order to set this trap of which, we were the bait. We had found a Wight Walker that only had a small squad of Wights. Wun-Wun, Orys and I were standing shoulder to shoulder. Wun-Wun had his sword in one hand and the rope in the other. To both attract attention and let Ygrette know where we were. The blinding snow obscured our sight as we sang as loudly as we could. When they were almost upon her, Ygrette popped up from where she had buried herself in the snow and began running. Using the sound of our singing to guide her, she was able to run to the right, as she had practiced, then back towards us.

“NOW!” yelled Yrgette, who had just run over the net.

On her signal, Wun-Wun pulled down on the rope hard, pulling the net that was buried under the snow up into the air, trapping the Wights in the net and suspending them in the air. Unknown to us, one of them had not been caught and we couldn’t see well enough to know that. We kept singing until we heard the other trap give way. We had carefully concealed a snowbear skin, covered in snow over the pit trap we had dug. When the Wight Walker stepped on it, he fell through, into the pit. But our elation was short lived, as the one free wight, stabbed Orys through the chest with a spear. When I heard my friend scream, I rushed to him, only to find a wight, that easily dispatched with my Sword of Icy Fire. Once that was done, I began tossing boulders down on to the Wight Walker. Being buried alive in huge rocks wouldn’t kill the Others, but it would slow them down.

Once that was done, Wun-Wun carefully lowered the net until I could reach it and wrap the long chain we had traded for from the Thenns. I was almost done when Orys was transformed into a wight. So I wrestled him and added him to the pile of wights that I was chaining together. Once that was done, Wun-Wun put the bundle of wights on his back and we all began running South.

“Orys won’t like that you didn’t burn him,” chided Ygrette.

“He’ll be one more example of what’s coming,” I replied. “It will give his life meaning. Or we could burn him later when we are South of the wall.“

“Good enough,” boomed Wun-Wun