Categories > Books > Harry Potter > All Men must Serve
Chapter 23: time goes by
MARGAERY
Before leaving Winterfell, I made sure to plant a few of my special plants in their Gods’ Wood, especially the Birth Blossum, so I could go there in an instant if I needed to.
I was able to learn via my plants in the Red Keep that Lord Stark was planning to use his wife’s death as an excuse to step down from his role as Hand of the King and they were trying to figure out who would be a good replacement. Doran Martell was rejected because, although the Dornish were technically at peace with the Crown, their animosity over the fate of Elia Martel in the rebellion was well known. Tyrion Lanister and Yara Greyjoy were members of families that had just finished rebelling against the Iron Throne. Bran Tully and Robert Aryn were too young. Stanis was busy with moving the Wildings to the Stepstones, an action that required naval support in order to help fight the pirates that were already there. Renly was considered incompetent. Varys and Pycel were not even considered. And so, it was decided to promote Peter Baelish to the post. The Hand of the King was under my power!
TORMUND
When we explained the deal I had made to the gathering that Mance Rayder had draw together, the Free Folk split into three factions. One group, led by the Thenns and the Giants and composed of mostly those who were from the western part of the True North, decided to take their chances with Ygrette on the Iron Islands. Another group, led by Mance, was going with me to the Stepstones. Rattleshirt led a third faction, who wanted to just go to the other side of The Wall whether the Crows liked it or not. Their plan was to send a small group to climb over The Wall and attack Castle Black from the South, then open the gates for the rest of them.
SAM
It was unfortunate that I should receive such a disfiguring injury just as I was becoming old enough for my male humors to rise. I had a tin mask made to cover my face from the gaze of the public, as my appearance had a tendency to startle the unprepared. But I appeared to have started a fashion amongst the victims of the Sept of Baelor, as other burn victims had taken to wearing masks also. The quality of those masks varied, depending on the wealth of the person who commissioned it. As for my humors, I had attempted to relieve them on the Street of Silk. But the lady of the evening in question, did not want me to remove my mask and on the whole I found the experience unsatisfying. As providence would have it, I happened on a fortune teller reading palms who had managed to commission an expensive mask with the savings she had remaining from her former profession as a courtesan. Shae and I soon began our courtship. As fellow burn victims, we were in the same circumstances and after an initial period of adjustment were able to tolerate the bedroom arts without hiding behind our masks.
The article I published about obsidian and its’ effect on wights caused a fad for obsidian daggers. But it was a short lived fad as anything made of volcanic glass had a tendency to easily break. I, however, began making pellets of obsidian shards wrapped in paper that could be fired from a musket. I could not discount the possibility that I might someday be faced with an incursion of the wights. And so I thought it prudent to be prepared for that possibility.
The pain produced by my burns never seemed to decrease. Fortunately, the new Lady Tully had given the Alchemists Guild a recipe for a more powerful form of Milk of the Poppy, known as Heroine. This gave me relief from my affliction, though many people lost themselves in that relief, my new wife, Shae amongst them. And so, I had to carefully ration our doses of the miracle drug, which was a source of conflict between us.
Of late, the city has been wracked by a series of religious conflicts between the adherents of the Old Gods and the Seven Gods. This had been a contributing factor in the resignation of the Lord Stark from his post as Hand of the King, along with the recent passing of his wife. This conflict often erupted into street fights between a pair of factions known as the Sparrows and the Plant gang, who were led by small time thief, turned Old Gods religious zealot, named: Big Byrony. One of the bones of contention was the question of what use should the former site of the Sept of Baelor be put to? The adherents of the Old Gods claimed that the destruction of the Sept was a sign from their Gods and that the land should be converted into a public Gods’ Wood. To facilitate this, the followers of the Old God would repeatedly plant weirwood trees on the site and the Sparrows would cut them down. The Followers of the Seven Gods wanted to re-build the Great Sept. But before that could happen, they felt the need to purge the city of the unbelievers.
TRYSTANE
When I stopped by Riverrun, I was not happy to be rejected by Margeary. Apparently, she was not willing to cheat on her new husband while she was in her original body. But I did get to meet him. He and his friend Edric were wizards. Bran also had a brother, Jon, who seemed like a wizard to me, but he called his magic: the Force. He seemed to be uncomfortable with my ability to dance my way in and out of the wereworld.
Margeary offered to see me at Winterfell, but I didn’t want to go that far North and out of my way. I’m sure my father is already angry with how long it is taking me to get to Bravos.
EDRIC
Things had calmed down a bit and we had settled down into a routine. Ser Jon continued to teach Bran and I fencing and even Margeary would join us for that. Ser Patrek, the Master-of-Arms, trained Jon, Bran and I at the tilts. Bran was settling into his role as Lord of the Riverlands. Margeary and Maester Ralf were a big help. I continued to teach Bran magic, and would also daily apparate to Winterfell, where I would teach Sansa magic, under the watchful eye of the “servant” Cat. About once a week I would portkey Bran with me so he could help his sister learn how to warg into her direwolf, Lady. When I found time, I still visited the villages of the Riverlands to re-grow their weirwood trees. Often I had to do this repeatedly, as the locals had felled the ones I had already fixed.
Trystane Martell stopped by on his way to White Harbor. He knew a different kind of magic than any of us. It was interesting to meet him, even though neither Bran nor I like the way he kept flirting with Margeary.
JON
I was quite surprised to find the new Lady Tully joining us when I would teach fencing to Bran and Edric. She had apparently had some training in unarmed combat in her past life and was easily able to make the transfer of those skills to swordplay. Although the things she would do with plants seemed like magic to me, they didn’t cause me the pain that warging did or that did when Bran or Edric used their magic. So I was willing help her with her plantings of her various special plants. She was laying out a minefield of unusual plants along both rivers and the main one after they joined together and long the moat between the two rivers. There the sprigs of weirwoods, hidden along the ground, and spiky evergreens, and vines of various types. She had taken Edric’s tales of the Whomping Willow and made her own, adding a line of those to the lines. She extended this out along all the rivers as far as a bow could shoot from the castle.
When Bran would hold court, he would often have to settle disputes between villages. They were starting to attack each other over the issue of the revival of the Old Gods religion, which was happening due in no small part to Edric’s hobby of re-growing weirwood trees and the fact that the septons had declared that magic was evil, and those that practiced it, like Bran, Edric, Margeary and I, were evil too.
Trystane Martell had stopped by on his way to White Harbor. He did some weird form of magic. But I thought he was an ass in the way acted about my feeling pain from magic.
JOFFREY
Uncle Kevan was not adjusting very well to his new life. He was used to being one of the highest ranked members of the Lannister Army. And now he was just like the rest of us. Your past didn’t matter when you joined the Night’s Watch. Being a criminal didn’t matter once you took the Black. But being a High Lord didn’t seem to matter either. I say being a Lord didn’t matter, but those of us who were high born did start with a few advantages, like having years of sword training that the common people did not have. But still, it was quite possible for a commoner to rise high the Night’s Watch. While being a Lord was no guaranty of success. Then there the resentments between the various ethnic groups. The Northerners resented everyone else, who had not volunteered for the job. The Volunteers from South of the Neck were the same. The Targaryan loyalists didn’t like the more recent recruits who had participated in Roberts Rebellion on the opposite side. The Ironborn from their rebellion didn’t like them either. The more recent Ironborn and Westerners blamed each other for losing their recent rebellion, caused by my loss of birthright. At least I still had my music, another thing Uncle Kevan didn’t like about life at The Wall.
MARGAERY
Before leaving Winterfell, I made sure to plant a few of my special plants in their Gods’ Wood, especially the Birth Blossum, so I could go there in an instant if I needed to.
I was able to learn via my plants in the Red Keep that Lord Stark was planning to use his wife’s death as an excuse to step down from his role as Hand of the King and they were trying to figure out who would be a good replacement. Doran Martell was rejected because, although the Dornish were technically at peace with the Crown, their animosity over the fate of Elia Martel in the rebellion was well known. Tyrion Lanister and Yara Greyjoy were members of families that had just finished rebelling against the Iron Throne. Bran Tully and Robert Aryn were too young. Stanis was busy with moving the Wildings to the Stepstones, an action that required naval support in order to help fight the pirates that were already there. Renly was considered incompetent. Varys and Pycel were not even considered. And so, it was decided to promote Peter Baelish to the post. The Hand of the King was under my power!
TORMUND
When we explained the deal I had made to the gathering that Mance Rayder had draw together, the Free Folk split into three factions. One group, led by the Thenns and the Giants and composed of mostly those who were from the western part of the True North, decided to take their chances with Ygrette on the Iron Islands. Another group, led by Mance, was going with me to the Stepstones. Rattleshirt led a third faction, who wanted to just go to the other side of The Wall whether the Crows liked it or not. Their plan was to send a small group to climb over The Wall and attack Castle Black from the South, then open the gates for the rest of them.
SAM
It was unfortunate that I should receive such a disfiguring injury just as I was becoming old enough for my male humors to rise. I had a tin mask made to cover my face from the gaze of the public, as my appearance had a tendency to startle the unprepared. But I appeared to have started a fashion amongst the victims of the Sept of Baelor, as other burn victims had taken to wearing masks also. The quality of those masks varied, depending on the wealth of the person who commissioned it. As for my humors, I had attempted to relieve them on the Street of Silk. But the lady of the evening in question, did not want me to remove my mask and on the whole I found the experience unsatisfying. As providence would have it, I happened on a fortune teller reading palms who had managed to commission an expensive mask with the savings she had remaining from her former profession as a courtesan. Shae and I soon began our courtship. As fellow burn victims, we were in the same circumstances and after an initial period of adjustment were able to tolerate the bedroom arts without hiding behind our masks.
The article I published about obsidian and its’ effect on wights caused a fad for obsidian daggers. But it was a short lived fad as anything made of volcanic glass had a tendency to easily break. I, however, began making pellets of obsidian shards wrapped in paper that could be fired from a musket. I could not discount the possibility that I might someday be faced with an incursion of the wights. And so I thought it prudent to be prepared for that possibility.
The pain produced by my burns never seemed to decrease. Fortunately, the new Lady Tully had given the Alchemists Guild a recipe for a more powerful form of Milk of the Poppy, known as Heroine. This gave me relief from my affliction, though many people lost themselves in that relief, my new wife, Shae amongst them. And so, I had to carefully ration our doses of the miracle drug, which was a source of conflict between us.
Of late, the city has been wracked by a series of religious conflicts between the adherents of the Old Gods and the Seven Gods. This had been a contributing factor in the resignation of the Lord Stark from his post as Hand of the King, along with the recent passing of his wife. This conflict often erupted into street fights between a pair of factions known as the Sparrows and the Plant gang, who were led by small time thief, turned Old Gods religious zealot, named: Big Byrony. One of the bones of contention was the question of what use should the former site of the Sept of Baelor be put to? The adherents of the Old Gods claimed that the destruction of the Sept was a sign from their Gods and that the land should be converted into a public Gods’ Wood. To facilitate this, the followers of the Old God would repeatedly plant weirwood trees on the site and the Sparrows would cut them down. The Followers of the Seven Gods wanted to re-build the Great Sept. But before that could happen, they felt the need to purge the city of the unbelievers.
TRYSTANE
When I stopped by Riverrun, I was not happy to be rejected by Margeary. Apparently, she was not willing to cheat on her new husband while she was in her original body. But I did get to meet him. He and his friend Edric were wizards. Bran also had a brother, Jon, who seemed like a wizard to me, but he called his magic: the Force. He seemed to be uncomfortable with my ability to dance my way in and out of the wereworld.
Margeary offered to see me at Winterfell, but I didn’t want to go that far North and out of my way. I’m sure my father is already angry with how long it is taking me to get to Bravos.
EDRIC
Things had calmed down a bit and we had settled down into a routine. Ser Jon continued to teach Bran and I fencing and even Margeary would join us for that. Ser Patrek, the Master-of-Arms, trained Jon, Bran and I at the tilts. Bran was settling into his role as Lord of the Riverlands. Margeary and Maester Ralf were a big help. I continued to teach Bran magic, and would also daily apparate to Winterfell, where I would teach Sansa magic, under the watchful eye of the “servant” Cat. About once a week I would portkey Bran with me so he could help his sister learn how to warg into her direwolf, Lady. When I found time, I still visited the villages of the Riverlands to re-grow their weirwood trees. Often I had to do this repeatedly, as the locals had felled the ones I had already fixed.
Trystane Martell stopped by on his way to White Harbor. He knew a different kind of magic than any of us. It was interesting to meet him, even though neither Bran nor I like the way he kept flirting with Margeary.
JON
I was quite surprised to find the new Lady Tully joining us when I would teach fencing to Bran and Edric. She had apparently had some training in unarmed combat in her past life and was easily able to make the transfer of those skills to swordplay. Although the things she would do with plants seemed like magic to me, they didn’t cause me the pain that warging did or that did when Bran or Edric used their magic. So I was willing help her with her plantings of her various special plants. She was laying out a minefield of unusual plants along both rivers and the main one after they joined together and long the moat between the two rivers. There the sprigs of weirwoods, hidden along the ground, and spiky evergreens, and vines of various types. She had taken Edric’s tales of the Whomping Willow and made her own, adding a line of those to the lines. She extended this out along all the rivers as far as a bow could shoot from the castle.
When Bran would hold court, he would often have to settle disputes between villages. They were starting to attack each other over the issue of the revival of the Old Gods religion, which was happening due in no small part to Edric’s hobby of re-growing weirwood trees and the fact that the septons had declared that magic was evil, and those that practiced it, like Bran, Edric, Margeary and I, were evil too.
Trystane Martell had stopped by on his way to White Harbor. He did some weird form of magic. But I thought he was an ass in the way acted about my feeling pain from magic.
JOFFREY
Uncle Kevan was not adjusting very well to his new life. He was used to being one of the highest ranked members of the Lannister Army. And now he was just like the rest of us. Your past didn’t matter when you joined the Night’s Watch. Being a criminal didn’t matter once you took the Black. But being a High Lord didn’t seem to matter either. I say being a Lord didn’t matter, but those of us who were high born did start with a few advantages, like having years of sword training that the common people did not have. But still, it was quite possible for a commoner to rise high the Night’s Watch. While being a Lord was no guaranty of success. Then there the resentments between the various ethnic groups. The Northerners resented everyone else, who had not volunteered for the job. The Volunteers from South of the Neck were the same. The Targaryan loyalists didn’t like the more recent recruits who had participated in Roberts Rebellion on the opposite side. The Ironborn from their rebellion didn’t like them either. The more recent Ironborn and Westerners blamed each other for losing their recent rebellion, caused by my loss of birthright. At least I still had my music, another thing Uncle Kevan didn’t like about life at The Wall.
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