Categories > Books > Harry Potter > All Men must Serve
Chapter 55: It’s true!
MARGAERY
I was watching my sons play and nursing my daughter: Willow, when Jojen walked into the room. He had a somber expression, giving me a sense of foreboding.
“I’m sorry,” said Jojen. “Bran is dead.”
“No!” I snapped. “You’re lying! Even if it were true, you couldn’t possibly know!”
“I saw it in my crystal,” replied Jojen. “Bran has an icicle sticking through him and the Maester was trying to save him, but failed.”
“You saw it in your crystal!” I snarled. “Damn you and your visions! Damn your magic powers! Damn it all!”
I couldn’t speak anymore and I broke down crying, setting off each of my children to crying too. Because as much as I try to deny it, I knew that Jojen’s visions were pretty accurate. My Bran was dead! Jojen put a hand on my shoulder to try to comfort me.
“Don’t tell Sansa,” I sobbed. “Don’t let her find out until she can learn it from someone who was there.”
TRYSTANE
Arya and Meera both had battle injuries, taken in those last desperate moments before we returned, Arya on her arm, Meera on her legs. Edric was too tired to move. We need to get some food in him. We should probably wait until we’re all recovered before telling Brans family outside of Winterfell. They’re better off not knowing. Of the three men who had taken the last trip back with us, only one had survived. The other two succumbed to their injuries. There were quite a few injured that had come back before us. There were many more who had died there. Arya and Meera were trying to comfort each other. I found a servant and asked for something for us to eat. When the servant returned with a tray full of bowls of soup, I started feeding it to Edric until he was strong enough to feed himself.
EDRIC
It took several days before we were all recovered enough to travel. I was not looking forward to it. All the Starks and their extended family here at Winterfell were grief stricken. We gave a funeral for all the fallen and I burned all the bodies we had brought back. After the funeral, Lord Robb asked me to meet with him in his solar.
“I wanted to hear your report about what went wrong at Castle Darry,” commanded Robb.
“The snow was too deep,” I reported. Even after we had cleared some of it out, there was still plenty of it in the courtyard and on the rooves of the buildings to hide them. They waited until after I cast the Fidelitus to attack, then killed Lord Darry. When the secret keeper dies, everyone who knows the secret then becomes a secret keeper. And since the dead had been with us all along, just in hiding. They all heard the secret too. There were at least three Wight Walkers amongst them. I didn’t see which one took down Bran. But after the initial attack. Only two of them were trying to kill me. I do not know what the third one was doing during this time. It’s possible he was retreating in order to preserve the secret in case we killed the other two. During the battle, they raised the fallen, ours and theirs. Not all of theirs rose. I believe the ones that didn’t re-animate were killed by valyrian steel. Many of them were lost when the people with them were killed.”
“Is it possible to clean them out and re-do the secrecy spell?” asked Robb.
“No,” I replied. “Once it’s been cast, that location can never accept another one unless all secret keepers are dead.”
MARGAERY
I spent the next couple of weeks wallowing in my grief. Every day I would cry at least once during the day. And as the time dragged out, I wondered who else had died with Bran. I didn’t want to ask Jojen to find out. At the same time, each day that passed, made me hope Jojen was wrong. What if Bran was okay and this was all a false vision on Jojen’s part?. . . . or a cruel trick?
But my hope died when Meera returned and I saw the look in her eyes. Before she even could tell me I knew.
“So it’s true!” I sobbed. “No! No! No! No! He can’t be dead!”
I became incoherent at that point, as I set Meera off and we fell into each other’s arms to wail out our grief. At some point, we’d wandered into Bran’s bedroom, And when we finally stopped crying, she brought up our future and the implications of all this.
“What does this mean for us?” asked Meera. “Now that our husband is dead, what are we? How do we go on?”
“Well, we’re still married to each other,” I said. “When I put my cloak on you and let you put yours on me, I was making a serious commitment to be your wife and have you as mine. Unless you don’t want to be married anymore? . . .”
“No . . . I’m fine with us being married,” said Meera. “I want to remain your wife. It’s just . . . I wanted to have children . . . Bran’s children! And now that he’s gone, I need to make them with someone else.”
“I want more children too,” I admitted. “I’m still Lady of the Riverlands. It’s shouldn’t be hard for us to find a husband, especially since we don’t mind sharing. But perhaps we should join an existing marriage.”
“Who do you have in mind?” asked Meera.
“Well, during both my past two pregnancies, I had a short term affair with Edric and with both him and Sansa,” I explained. “Perhaps we should join with them?”
“They’re nice people,” agreed Meera. “But I don’t think Sansa and I would be able to get along as co-wives to the same man. I was thinking more Arya and Trystane. That time we shared a bed with them I really enjoyed them. Though, now that I think about it, I liked Arya more than Trystane.”
“Let’s talk to each couple, see what they have to say about it,” I told her. “Even if we decide not to join with either of them, We’d still have each other and our children would still be our true born children.”
EDRIC
Meera had recovered enough for us to portkey back to Riverrun. She went to tell Margaery, while I went to tell Sansa. She didn’t take it well. I had been grieving for two weeks, but this was the first she had heard of it. We spend the rest of that night with me holding her as she cried and grieved the loss of her brother. The next time we broke our fast, (I hate to call it morning because it was still dark all the time) Margaery asked us to meet with her and Meera in Bran’s solar.
“We called you two here because we wanted to propose something,” began Margaery. “Meera and I have discussed it, and we want to remain married to each other. But, we both still want to have more children. So, we were wondering if the two of you would like to join our marriages together?”
“Can we have some time alone to discuss the idea?” I asked her.
“We don’t need time alone,” said Sansa. “I already know how I feel about it. Margaery, I enjoyed sharing a bed with both you and Edric at the same time. But I don’t want to be one of three wives. Besides, I’m not interested in sharing a marriage bed with Meera.”
“I feel the same way about you,” agreed Meera. “You’re a sweet woman. But not the kind of person I want to take to my bed.
“What if I joined with the two of you occasionally, when I want to conceive and when I’m already pregnant, but we were not formally joined?”
“I might agree to that if Sansa does?” I said. “Sansa?”
“I want our daughter to inherit,” proclaimed Sansa. “I want her to be a Lady, like me. I understand why we had to leave the Twins, and I agree with it. But I want to make sure our children have a future.”
“I was going to speak with Bran about this, but I guess I have to talk to you now Margaery,” I said. “I’ve had trouble teaching people spread out in several places. And I was thinking when it comes time to teach our children, I would like to turn Harrenhal into a school of magic.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” said Margeary. “How about I give Harrenhal to you, Sansa, to be passed down to Minisa as your heir. And in exchange, you give up your claim to the Twins, which are useless to anyone until spring anyway. I can then, make your son, Ash, the Lord of the Twins, to be passed down to his wife’s daughter?”
“If we don’t tell anyone our plans for him, he can attract a better wife,” offered Meera. “After all, the second son who is going to inherit nothing will be able to marry for love. While the Lord of the Twins will attract someone who wants to be Lady of his Keep.”
“That’s a great idea!” agreed Margaery.
“I’m willing to give up being Lady of the Twins in exchange for Harrenhal,” agreed Sansa. “But I think we should stay here until spring. I don’t want to be alone in a castle while you’re away, Edric.”
JON
Edric came to tell us the news about Bran. Mother took it harder than I did. His death also messed up our plans to reclaim keeps and explore to see who had survived. Having Bran, a wizard who could ride Summer and teleport back from a location and bring Edric back to it, gave Edric more time for other projects that were just as important. Without Bran, Edric or Sansa would have to go themselves. And Sansa was not a good candidate for cross country camping trips. Edric would be hampered by not having his own dire wolf too. For now, that would have to put on hold for a while. I was hoping that after the Riverlands was re-settled that we could send them down to explore the Reach and the Stormlands some more. For now, Shireen was Queen of the North a few keeps in the Riverlands and one big city.
SAM
The city was tearing its’ self apart. Without the recurring attacks from the Others, King’s Landing felt like a prison to many. Periodically, a group of adventurers would leave the safety of the city walls. Usually, they were never heard from again. A few times, they returned while being pursued by a horde of wights. Those that made it back to the safety of the city walls were safe. Those that were too slow, were killed, then raised within sight of the city walls. These incidents would only offer a temporary respite from the chaos of the city. As my good friend Bronn put it: ‘all there is to do here is fight and fuck’ and this simple fact was causing problems for the maintenance of order. To help alleviate this, I devised the solution of creating a city council, whose members would be elected by the people and empowered to make laws for the city. I was able to sell this idea to the Queen by offering her the power to veto new laws that she did not approve of. The elections and the debates over the laws that the city council would pass proved to be a great distraction for the masses. And being able to make their own laws gave the common people a larger stake in the social order.
TRYSTANE
At Margaery’s invitation, Arya and I had Edric transport us to Riverrun. It seems that they wanted me to help them conceive children, but were not interested in becoming my wives. The four of us came together until Meera became pregnant, after which we returned to Winterfell. This was the first of many trips we made to get either Meera or Margaery with child. Sometimes they would send Summer to us to help Nymeria make a new litter of pups. Sometimes we would have to cancel the trip because Arya was pregnant again.
Years passed . . .
MARGAERY
I was watching my sons play and nursing my daughter: Willow, when Jojen walked into the room. He had a somber expression, giving me a sense of foreboding.
“I’m sorry,” said Jojen. “Bran is dead.”
“No!” I snapped. “You’re lying! Even if it were true, you couldn’t possibly know!”
“I saw it in my crystal,” replied Jojen. “Bran has an icicle sticking through him and the Maester was trying to save him, but failed.”
“You saw it in your crystal!” I snarled. “Damn you and your visions! Damn your magic powers! Damn it all!”
I couldn’t speak anymore and I broke down crying, setting off each of my children to crying too. Because as much as I try to deny it, I knew that Jojen’s visions were pretty accurate. My Bran was dead! Jojen put a hand on my shoulder to try to comfort me.
“Don’t tell Sansa,” I sobbed. “Don’t let her find out until she can learn it from someone who was there.”
TRYSTANE
Arya and Meera both had battle injuries, taken in those last desperate moments before we returned, Arya on her arm, Meera on her legs. Edric was too tired to move. We need to get some food in him. We should probably wait until we’re all recovered before telling Brans family outside of Winterfell. They’re better off not knowing. Of the three men who had taken the last trip back with us, only one had survived. The other two succumbed to their injuries. There were quite a few injured that had come back before us. There were many more who had died there. Arya and Meera were trying to comfort each other. I found a servant and asked for something for us to eat. When the servant returned with a tray full of bowls of soup, I started feeding it to Edric until he was strong enough to feed himself.
EDRIC
It took several days before we were all recovered enough to travel. I was not looking forward to it. All the Starks and their extended family here at Winterfell were grief stricken. We gave a funeral for all the fallen and I burned all the bodies we had brought back. After the funeral, Lord Robb asked me to meet with him in his solar.
“I wanted to hear your report about what went wrong at Castle Darry,” commanded Robb.
“The snow was too deep,” I reported. Even after we had cleared some of it out, there was still plenty of it in the courtyard and on the rooves of the buildings to hide them. They waited until after I cast the Fidelitus to attack, then killed Lord Darry. When the secret keeper dies, everyone who knows the secret then becomes a secret keeper. And since the dead had been with us all along, just in hiding. They all heard the secret too. There were at least three Wight Walkers amongst them. I didn’t see which one took down Bran. But after the initial attack. Only two of them were trying to kill me. I do not know what the third one was doing during this time. It’s possible he was retreating in order to preserve the secret in case we killed the other two. During the battle, they raised the fallen, ours and theirs. Not all of theirs rose. I believe the ones that didn’t re-animate were killed by valyrian steel. Many of them were lost when the people with them were killed.”
“Is it possible to clean them out and re-do the secrecy spell?” asked Robb.
“No,” I replied. “Once it’s been cast, that location can never accept another one unless all secret keepers are dead.”
MARGAERY
I spent the next couple of weeks wallowing in my grief. Every day I would cry at least once during the day. And as the time dragged out, I wondered who else had died with Bran. I didn’t want to ask Jojen to find out. At the same time, each day that passed, made me hope Jojen was wrong. What if Bran was okay and this was all a false vision on Jojen’s part?. . . . or a cruel trick?
But my hope died when Meera returned and I saw the look in her eyes. Before she even could tell me I knew.
“So it’s true!” I sobbed. “No! No! No! No! He can’t be dead!”
I became incoherent at that point, as I set Meera off and we fell into each other’s arms to wail out our grief. At some point, we’d wandered into Bran’s bedroom, And when we finally stopped crying, she brought up our future and the implications of all this.
“What does this mean for us?” asked Meera. “Now that our husband is dead, what are we? How do we go on?”
“Well, we’re still married to each other,” I said. “When I put my cloak on you and let you put yours on me, I was making a serious commitment to be your wife and have you as mine. Unless you don’t want to be married anymore? . . .”
“No . . . I’m fine with us being married,” said Meera. “I want to remain your wife. It’s just . . . I wanted to have children . . . Bran’s children! And now that he’s gone, I need to make them with someone else.”
“I want more children too,” I admitted. “I’m still Lady of the Riverlands. It’s shouldn’t be hard for us to find a husband, especially since we don’t mind sharing. But perhaps we should join an existing marriage.”
“Who do you have in mind?” asked Meera.
“Well, during both my past two pregnancies, I had a short term affair with Edric and with both him and Sansa,” I explained. “Perhaps we should join with them?”
“They’re nice people,” agreed Meera. “But I don’t think Sansa and I would be able to get along as co-wives to the same man. I was thinking more Arya and Trystane. That time we shared a bed with them I really enjoyed them. Though, now that I think about it, I liked Arya more than Trystane.”
“Let’s talk to each couple, see what they have to say about it,” I told her. “Even if we decide not to join with either of them, We’d still have each other and our children would still be our true born children.”
EDRIC
Meera had recovered enough for us to portkey back to Riverrun. She went to tell Margaery, while I went to tell Sansa. She didn’t take it well. I had been grieving for two weeks, but this was the first she had heard of it. We spend the rest of that night with me holding her as she cried and grieved the loss of her brother. The next time we broke our fast, (I hate to call it morning because it was still dark all the time) Margaery asked us to meet with her and Meera in Bran’s solar.
“We called you two here because we wanted to propose something,” began Margaery. “Meera and I have discussed it, and we want to remain married to each other. But, we both still want to have more children. So, we were wondering if the two of you would like to join our marriages together?”
“Can we have some time alone to discuss the idea?” I asked her.
“We don’t need time alone,” said Sansa. “I already know how I feel about it. Margaery, I enjoyed sharing a bed with both you and Edric at the same time. But I don’t want to be one of three wives. Besides, I’m not interested in sharing a marriage bed with Meera.”
“I feel the same way about you,” agreed Meera. “You’re a sweet woman. But not the kind of person I want to take to my bed.
“What if I joined with the two of you occasionally, when I want to conceive and when I’m already pregnant, but we were not formally joined?”
“I might agree to that if Sansa does?” I said. “Sansa?”
“I want our daughter to inherit,” proclaimed Sansa. “I want her to be a Lady, like me. I understand why we had to leave the Twins, and I agree with it. But I want to make sure our children have a future.”
“I was going to speak with Bran about this, but I guess I have to talk to you now Margaery,” I said. “I’ve had trouble teaching people spread out in several places. And I was thinking when it comes time to teach our children, I would like to turn Harrenhal into a school of magic.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” said Margeary. “How about I give Harrenhal to you, Sansa, to be passed down to Minisa as your heir. And in exchange, you give up your claim to the Twins, which are useless to anyone until spring anyway. I can then, make your son, Ash, the Lord of the Twins, to be passed down to his wife’s daughter?”
“If we don’t tell anyone our plans for him, he can attract a better wife,” offered Meera. “After all, the second son who is going to inherit nothing will be able to marry for love. While the Lord of the Twins will attract someone who wants to be Lady of his Keep.”
“That’s a great idea!” agreed Margaery.
“I’m willing to give up being Lady of the Twins in exchange for Harrenhal,” agreed Sansa. “But I think we should stay here until spring. I don’t want to be alone in a castle while you’re away, Edric.”
JON
Edric came to tell us the news about Bran. Mother took it harder than I did. His death also messed up our plans to reclaim keeps and explore to see who had survived. Having Bran, a wizard who could ride Summer and teleport back from a location and bring Edric back to it, gave Edric more time for other projects that were just as important. Without Bran, Edric or Sansa would have to go themselves. And Sansa was not a good candidate for cross country camping trips. Edric would be hampered by not having his own dire wolf too. For now, that would have to put on hold for a while. I was hoping that after the Riverlands was re-settled that we could send them down to explore the Reach and the Stormlands some more. For now, Shireen was Queen of the North a few keeps in the Riverlands and one big city.
SAM
The city was tearing its’ self apart. Without the recurring attacks from the Others, King’s Landing felt like a prison to many. Periodically, a group of adventurers would leave the safety of the city walls. Usually, they were never heard from again. A few times, they returned while being pursued by a horde of wights. Those that made it back to the safety of the city walls were safe. Those that were too slow, were killed, then raised within sight of the city walls. These incidents would only offer a temporary respite from the chaos of the city. As my good friend Bronn put it: ‘all there is to do here is fight and fuck’ and this simple fact was causing problems for the maintenance of order. To help alleviate this, I devised the solution of creating a city council, whose members would be elected by the people and empowered to make laws for the city. I was able to sell this idea to the Queen by offering her the power to veto new laws that she did not approve of. The elections and the debates over the laws that the city council would pass proved to be a great distraction for the masses. And being able to make their own laws gave the common people a larger stake in the social order.
TRYSTANE
At Margaery’s invitation, Arya and I had Edric transport us to Riverrun. It seems that they wanted me to help them conceive children, but were not interested in becoming my wives. The four of us came together until Meera became pregnant, after which we returned to Winterfell. This was the first of many trips we made to get either Meera or Margaery with child. Sometimes they would send Summer to us to help Nymeria make a new litter of pups. Sometimes we would have to cancel the trip because Arya was pregnant again.
Years passed . . .
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