Howl of the Seawolf (OC/SI)

[kaizerfox]

Chapter 22

Sea Dragon Bay, Late Third Moon, 286 A.C., Three moons later…

The driver swims through the kelp, inspecting each stalk carefully before finding some reason to dismiss it and moving to the next stalk. I send him a mental poke asking what he is doing as I've never seen this type of behavior in orcas. Not that I'm an expert in orcas or anything. I receive an image of two orcas placing a kelp stalk between them and rubbing their bodies with together. This piques my curiosity because this is a sign of toolmaking.

The driver finally selects the perfect kelp, using his teeth to rip a four-foot-long stalk and begins swimming towards his mother. He squeaks and clicks to his mother, who seems happy to take him up on his suggestion. The driver places the kelp between his right side and her left side, both orcas facing the same direction, and begin rubbing up against each other. The sensation feels akin to when I use my back scratcher to scratch an irritating, out of reach spot. I sense a mix of physical relief and familial affection through the mental curtain as he continues to rub up with his mother. I quietly observe the strengthening of the social bonds between mother and son, who perform this ritual for a few minutes both sides, the back, and the belly. After they finish, the kelp is discarded as the driver swims to the surface for air. I convince him to spyhop, a behavior in whales and dolphins breach their entire head above water to look around, and he obliges. He positions himself vertically with his pectoral fin in a manner similar to a person treading water, and slowly pokes his head until his eyes are a few inches above the waterline.

It's still dark out at the hour of the redbird or around six in the morning in another world, the lighthouse on a hill north of the city still lit. This far north in winter, the sunrise is still about two hours away in the hour of the robin. With the driver's superior low-light vision, I spot a few fishing ships already in the bay, with most only now setting out from the harbor. A Northern merchant cog sails out of the eastern harbor and a few moments later, a Riverlander merchant cog sails in.

At the north end of the harbor sits ten galleys of the Sunset Fleet, three in the last stages of construction and seven undergoing maintenance. The rest of the fleet, thirty galleys in total, were patrolling Northern waters north of Cape Kraken, split into groups of five galleys to cover a wider area. No reavings have been reported, either in Sea Dragon Point or by other Northern houses.

The quickstone quay lays half finished, the workers soon to arrive to continue its construction, due to be done by the end of the year as newly built scorpions gaze down menacingly from the sea wall.

The driver turns and notices the light of a small fishing boat sailing towards us. The small vessel is piloted by three men with a lantern lit by a whale oil candle, burning brightly in the darkness. When the boat draws near, I see the three fishermen wearing rabbit-fur ushankas, a father, and his sons, one on the cusp of manhood and the other looked to be around Jonnel's age of three-and-ten, point towards us and start talking amongst themselves. The father and his sons then fling three fresh salmon from their first haul towards the driver and my bond with the driver strengthening to the point that I can understand the salty fisherman's words.

"SEA MESSENGER OF THE OLD GODS! WE OFFER THIS TRIBUTE IN HOPES THAT THE OLD GODS WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS OUR NETS FULL OF FISH!" The fisherman shouts and his sons bow their heads as the boat passes by about twenty feet from us. Unfortunately for them, the driver doesn't understand their words and moves to eat the free salmon. I receive a mental poke from him asking why the humans have been throwing fish at him and his pod. I send an images of him saving my brother and the pod hunting and fishing with humans. A picture of a direwolf next to an orca is next to illustrate a connection I am building between them in the eyes of the smallfolk and the driver shows intrigue at the mental image of the direwolf and my explanation of orcas being the "direwolves of the seas".

He's silent for a moment before responding with a series of images of images, the first is humans throwing fish at an orca and the pod eating the tongue of a humpback hunted by whalers, and the second shows his mother commanding the pod to save a drowning man and assisting fishermen and whalers in their hunts. The third image mirrors the first only with no fish being given to the orcas and the fourth mirrors the second only with the pod refusing to save the drowning man or assist in the hunts. I agree to his basic deal, marveling at the intelligence of orcas in being able to conceptualize and agree to deals not only with other pods but humans as well.

The brief interaction between the fishermen and the driver has me thinking about the pod of eight orcas and the reputation they've been unintentionally cultivating amongst the whalers and fishermen of Wolfsport.

Before I started skinchanging, spotted whales were seen as any other whale, game to be hunted when possible, and left alone when not. After a certain milk-eyed spotted whale saved my brother from drowning, I forbid the hunting of spotted whales. While some whalers grumbled, most accepted it since spotted whales were rarely hunted anyways and saving my brother bought a lot of goodwill from the people. Since then, the pod has assisted in the hunt of gray whales on two separate occasions and another humpback, providing Wolfsport with much needed whalebone and oil. The pod recently herded a large school of salmon into the nets of awaiting fishermen in return for a portion of the catch and now the fishermen and whalers have begun to give offerings of fish to the orcas in hopes of receiving the blessing of a sea messenger. The Old Gods of the Forest may dwell on land, but they are gods of nature itself and naturally, the sea falls within their domain. The direwolf was chosen by the Starks for their sigil for a reason, the direwolf has always been revered by the First Men and Children as divine messengers. I used the rescue of my brother to outlaw the hunting of orcas, citing them as the "direwolves of the sea, and thus the messengers of the Old Gods through the sea".

I made it all up, of course. Thanks to the complete lack of any uniform or codified worship of the Old Gods, the smallfolk seem to believe my bullshit divine connection between the spotted whales and the Old Gods.

After eating the salmon, the driver dives back into the depths of the bay and meets up with the gathered pod. They lazily swim around, having some type of debate between themselves on what to do or what to hunt.

Click Click Click Click Click

A string of loud clicks reverberates throughout the bay with the volume of someone screaming in your ear. After a short pause, another series of clicks with long whine that lowered in pitch as it went on finishing it. I recognize the type of beast that makes these noises, having heard them before with the driver, faintly like a whisper.

When I first heard it I asked the driver what kind of animal was making that kind of noise. When it answered with a mental image of a fully grown leviathan, I remember getting excited thinking one was about to swim into Sea Dragon Bay only for my host to amusingly note that the leviathan making the sounds was thousands of miles away communicating with another one of it's kind over vast differences. I knew sperm whales were the loudest animals on earth and could communicate over thousands of miles but it was a completely different thing to faintly hear a leviathan and realize it was a probably off the coast of Lonely Light.

This one, however, sounds much closer. I ask the driver how close the leviathan making the current sounds and he estimates that it's around fifty miles away. If that's how loud they sound from fifty miles away, I shudder to think how loud it'd be next to one. The pod continues to swim along, knowing the massive beast is still a far distance away, though noticeably more tense, like a herd of deer catching the faintest scent of a wolf.

On Earth, orcas are the apex predators of the sea, capable of hunting whales larger than themselves and no natural predators of their own. Here, orcas can still prey on whales larger than them but they aren't apex predators, that title belongs to leviathans. They have no natural predators and are only hunted by the Ibbenese, which is why I'm so determined to get my hands on one of their ship schematics. Not only would it allow us to hunt leviathans, it would allow us to hunt large whales further out at sea by harvesting the whale next to the ship instead of dragging it to the shore.

The pod swims towards the shallower waters of the shoreline and proceeds to hunt seals. The driver dives below a group of seals before charging at one and delivering a devastating smack that launches it high in the air. The rest of the pack scatter and when the unfortunate victim hits the water a moment later, the dazed seal becomes an easy breakfast for the driver. As the orcas chews on his meal I feel a strange sensation, as if someone is shaking me. I check to see if it's the driver trying to communicate when I feel it again.

Suddenly my eyes open and I'm staring at the canopy of our bed. I sit up and glance over to my heavily pregnant who looks at me with a serious look on her face.

"Hugo, my water broke." I stare at her dumbly before the words register in my brain and I immediately call for the wetnurse. In a hectic blur, I escort my wife with a maid to the birthing chambers…

Later…

After several hours labor that ended up requiring the use of forceps to correct a malposition of the babe, I hold little Jeyne Seastark in my arms as Myrra lays on the bed, awake yet resting. Golden blonde hair but with the same greenish-gray eyes of her siblings, she is named after Myrra's friend Jeyne Grafton nee Farman. We agreed to name her Jeyne after her friend's fifth child was born Myrra Grafton.

The Seastarks still in Castle Warg are in the chambers with us, with mother holding a four-and-ten moon old Stannis while Jonnel and Breyna plays with an Asha that recently celebrated her third nameday and the twins, themselves a few moons shy of three, after the toddlers lost interest in their newest sibling. Elsa holds Wyman's eight moon old son Bennard, born a moon before the expedition left and named after our grandfather. The midwife and her assistants leave to wash their hands with soap and clean the forceps with boiled wine.

"I hope Quentyn isn't too upset about my brother becoming House Seastark's second knight." I say with a smile and Myrra softly chuckles at the reference to the royal proclamation of Prince Stannis' victory against the Dothraki in the "Battle of Morosh".

That had come a moon ago and was sparse on details, only that the Dothraki had been defeated, the city saved, the prince sailing for Saath, and a list of knighthoods and achievements. Edric was mentioned twice. The first was that he was knighted for fighting two weeks in the siege with five and twenty Sea Wolves and slaying the heir to Khal Motho. The second is that he was saved by Petyr Baelish of all people

"He'll have to settle for the acclaimed title of 'House Seastark's third knight'". Myrra japes and the adults chuckle. The lad in question is with his father, Ser Normund, the fosterlings, and former prince Jalabhar Xho at the archery range with the Summer Islander leading the lessons. Jalabhar, like most Summer Islander princes, is a skilled archer since his people heavily prize the skill, more than riding or melee combat.

At first, the castle garrison thought his skill was due only to his goldenheart bow, made from the famous wood found only in the Summer Islands. But when given a simple yew bow, the former prince hit a near bulls-eye from one hundred yards, silencing his critics. I gave him the honor of teaching archery to my fosterlings, except Tyrion, who is unable to use a bow and is using a crossbow instead.

For a moment I stand there with my family, holding my newborn daughter and bask in the peace. A knock on the door breaks the peace, opening to reveal Maester Armond with a raven scroll.

"A raven from King's Landing my lord. It's from Dagwell." The maester's words cause the adults and Jonnel to snap their heads at him, knowing a message from Dagwell meant news about Edric and their voyage.

"That it's from the capital is a good sign." I say hopefully as I take the message and unfurl it. My eyes scan the scroll written in a Caesar cipher to make it unreadable to anyone without the key. I hand Jeyne over to Myrra before deciphering the scroll and writing out a translated version on a separate scroll.

As I decipher the phrase "At Hell's heart I stab at thee!" I smile, the phrase being the code for the successful acquisition of the ship schematics. I continue to decipher, unsure if they accidently added a zero when the refugees are mentioned and finish writing out Dagwell's encrypted scroll. I silently read the decrypted message in full and my reactions range from pride, confusion, to frustration at my brother's actions.

"Hugo? Is Edric alright?" My mother asks me and I hand over the decrypted message.

"Edric got the schematics and is safe! He traded the secrets to our farming implements, the rocket stoves, the canning process, the saw mill, and our perfumes to obtain it!" I note he didn't give away the secrets to the wayfinders, backstaffs and my metalworks. The words bring cheer and relief to my family. Arsa and the twins look around at the adults knowing something is going on but not understanding what.

"Edric deflowered a Lorathi princess and she carries his child! Now her father, the Prince of the Streets is demanding compensation!" My mother exclaims upon reading that part of the message and the rest of my family looks scandalized.

"What will happen to the child? Are they asking for compensation?" My goodsister Elsa asks and I shrug.

"There is no mention of what they intend to do with the child. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the Ennarhan family wishes to keep him." I answer to the surprise of the room.

"But wouldn't they be worried about the bastard possibly inheriting the title of prince?" Myrra asks in confusion.

"The title of Prince of Lorath is elected, not inherited. Meaning there's little to no threat of them ever becoming a Prince. They could possibly inherit the family's lands and wealth, but not the title of Prince." I respond.

"As for compensation, the Lorathi prince is demanding we pay for the transport of over a thousand former slaves and a hundred beasts of burden to Wolfsport!" My mother continues to read the decrypted letter. My family reacts with a barrage of questions.

"Are we getting new people?" Little nine namedays old Breyna asks.

"Surely he means over a hundred, right?" Elsa asks.

"Where did Edric find that many people willing to come all the way here?" Jonnel puts in his two cents.

"How much is this going to cost?" My wife inquires and I wince thinking about the expense.

"Dagwell says the transport fleet is chartered five-and-ten galleys for five thousand gold. You wouldn't need that many for a hundred people and some cattle. No, were about to get a large intake of people in the middle of winter. Armond!" I address the maester. "Can we handle taking in a thousand people in a two or three moons?"

"I'm unsure, my lord. Wolfsport already has more people sheltering here than previous winters. Even with the additional housing you ordered constructed outside the walls it'll be difficult to accommodate a thousand people in winter. We may have to settle them elsewhere until spring." The maester answers and I consider his words.

"What about the castle hamlet and Stillport? We can send them there to lessen the burden on Wolfsport." I ask Armond and he mulls over my words.

"We may be able to accommodate a hundred in the castle hamlet and two or three hundred in Stillport. At worse, we can send them to Amber Hill or Flatmire if they're able to make the journeys." I nod and order him to begin preparations for their arrival. The maester acknowledges the order and leaves us.

"Finally, Dagwell reports that Edric presented your gift to the king on his nameday, the rocket stove drawing interest from the courtiers, and the queen is due to give birth in a moon." My mother finishes reading out the letter. The Seastark family begins discussing the latest news about Edric's knighthood, the coming settlers, the whaling ship schematics, and so on. I just stand there, watching my wife hold our newest child and quietly enjoy the moment…

A/N: I was going to type more but decided to cut it off here. Not much in this chapter other than we see Hugo deepening the partnership between orcas and humans. We see a bit of the cultural impact of orcas/spotted whales saving and working with people as they are starting to be seen as sacred animals. Hugo and his family also celebrate the birth of his second and finally get an update from Dagwell and Edric. Next chapter will be the arrival of the refugees and the later arrival of Wyman and the Yi-Ti expedition. Enjoy!

 

[kaizerfox]

Chapter 23

Wolfsport, Late Fourth Moon, 286 A.C., One moon later…

I watch Edric descend the gangplank, in a wolfskin cloak covering his blue woolen tunic and a mink-furred ushanka perched on his head, the straps tied up to the crown. Accompanying him isn't Dagwell, for he's back in the capital, but two short and stocky Ibbenese men in sealskin cloaks. Both have dark brown hair tied into short dreadlocks, but what interests me the most is their faces. They have prominent brow ridges, angled cheekbones, wide flat noses, and no prominent chin. All telling me one thing, the Ibbenese aren't human, they're actual neandertals!

"Brother! Cousin!" I hear Edric shout as he makes his way towards Jonnel and I. The rest of the Seastark are in Castle Warg waiting for Edric's return as we greet our returning kin. The two Ibbenese men walk up to us, sacks filled with their belongings slung over their shoulders and the slightly taller of the two with a large braided, brown beard with dozens of small seashells woven into it, has a small chest tucked under his left arm. He and his companion glance at my brother, who gives them an encouraging smile and nod, before the taller and older of the two Ibbenese looks to me with brown eyes.

"Greetings, Lord Seastark. I am Shipwright Bruk Vando and this is my apprentice, Faro Kulli. We were sent by Magister Grug Crood to give you the schematics and assist with the construction of a whaling ship. After the ship is completed, we will return to Ibben." He says in raspy, accented Common Tongue.

"Well met, Shipwright Bruk. You and your apprentice will be provided housing near the shipyards but tonight, you shall dine with my family in Castle Warg!" I signal the servants to collect their belongings to be taken to their housing, except the small chest that held the ship schematics. Surprise flashes across the shipwright's face, briefly speaking to his apprentice in Ibbenese.

"We are honored to dine with you and your family, Lord Seastark. I present to you, the schematics for my people's whaling ships!" He hands over the small wooden chest to me and I have another servant bring horses. We mount up and trot towards the Wolf Gate to Castle Warg.

"So, Edric. How'd you manage to bed a princess?" I roll my eyes when Jonnel asks the first question I'd expect him to ask. My brother blushes and looks at me sheepishly.

"Ah…Well, when I arrived in Lorath, I met with the princes and ruling magisters, several of whom had wives and daughters trapped in the city after a storm at sea wiped out the initial relief fleet. So, they hired me to take a small shipment of food and weapons to Morosh and transport the highborn ladies and children out of harms way back to Lorath. Princess Montoya was among them, golden hair, sapphire eyes, and slender. She was curious about me and the 'Sunset Lands'…" Edric continues to tell how he seduced a princess while we trot through the city.

The western harbor is full of ships, even in winter. The ships range from small fishing vessels to larger trade cogs to swan ships from the Summer Islands. We approach the Summer Islander trading post, made up of a single dock, two warehouses for storage, and a small bazaar. From a distance, a swan ship is docked at the trading post, unloading crates and barrels of goods as half a dozen Summer Islanders descend a gangplank. As we pass by I see a local merchant haggling with a Summer Islander spice vendor, both men wildly gesturing their arms intensely before coming to a deal, the local merchant handing over a few pieces of blue amber for a small bag of spices.

Edric gets to the part where he beds the princess in her family manse in Lorath, located in a section of the great maze that makes up a significant portions of the island. I turn my head left away from the sea, deeper into the city, passing by a street known as "Pillow Street" due to a number of brothels located there. A hanging sign of a painted dolphin with an erection marked the location of the newest one, The Frisky Dolphin, with patrons visiting even in daylight to get a taste of the Summer Islander women inside. In the year and a half since it's opening, the brothel has taken control of a good portion of the sex trade, forcing local, established brothels to start employing Summer Islander and other foreign women to keep up.

My brother starts telling us about the siege and how the defenders were stretched so thin that he and five-and-twenty Sea Wolves aided in the defense, with only ten returning home.

"Brother…" Edric address me. "…The five-and-ten men who fell in battle. They were good, brave men. What will happen to their families?"

"Their widows and children will receive a stipend from our house to assist them in getting by without the breadwinner. Men fight harder when they know their families will be cared for should they fall in battle. You will bring the first stipend to each of the fallen men's families and tell them how their sons, brothers, husbands, uncles, and fathers died heroically at Morosh." I tell Edric with a stern voice, leaving no room for argument.

Not that he did, instead nodding solemnly. "I will, brother. I owe those men that much."

We pass by the small canning workshop where inside, workers were packaging pre-cooked food in sealed airtight cans, made of tinned wrought iron. A far cry from the factories of Earth, this canning process is labor intensive, with each can needing to be hand-made and hours to cook the food and seal it in the cans. It's currently too expensive to sell to merchants and smallfolk so the cans are for the Sunset Fleet and the trade company, the sailors and traders appreciating the cans for extending their supplies at sea. Only my ships in the trade company have canned food but I have no doubt the other houses have noticed them on expeditions.

Further down the same street is the perfume shop, processing seagrease, or ambergris, among other ingredients into perfumes, and a tailor that made corsets from whalebone. Both run by Myrra with the assistance of Wyman's wife, Elsa, to take a load of me and give her something constructive to do. The products continue to see strong sales growth in the Seven Kingdoms but middling sales outside it.

Edric finishes talking about receiving his knighthood from Stannis, the two Ibbenese men riding behind us speaking little and only to one another in their foreign tongue that to my ears, sounds like strangely similar to Basque.

"And afterwards you met with the newly freed slaves?" I inquire as we pass through the Wolf Gate out to the road to Castle Warg, shoveled of snow and covered in sand and gravel to increase traction as salt is still far too precious a commodity to dump on snow.

"Aye, I spread the word around that you were looking for settlers and a group contacted me. I met them in a barracks giving them temporary shelter and thought it was a few dozen to a hundred at most. Imagine my shock when they told me over a thousand were taking me up on your offer." Edric says with a grin.

"When I gave you and Wyman that order, I was expecting you to recruit a few to a dozen or two at most. Now I'm scrambling to build enough housing for a thousand people this winter." I say with a snort. The offer to settle in Wolfsport and Sea Dragon Point is an order I gave to both Wyman and Edric before they left to recruit people, preferably skilled craftsmen, to settle our lands and increase our numbers.

"I certainly wasn't expecting that many to want to start a new life so far away. They didn't even realize the distances involved and even after I explained it to them, they still didn't fully grasp just how far Wolfsport is." Edric says with a chuckle.

We ride pass the quickstone kilns and in the distance I see the saw mill cutting large amounts of wood for ship construction and smoke billowing from my large, walled metalworks. Now with a second puddling and a second steel furnace recently finished to produce more wrought iron and steel. I see small wooden cabins and squat two-story apartments constructed from quickstone being hastily built outside the city in a desperate attempt to create more housing. By the time they arrive in a moon and a half, we'll have just enough to house them in Wolfsport and the castle hamlet. The apartments themselves are not the kind from our world, lacking electricity and indoor plumbing with fireplaces providing heat and built for four families total, two on each floor with a common room for cooking and recreation. They are far from perfect, but at the very least, it'll provide temporary shelter and a fireplace for the settlers until spring.

"What kind of people are these former slaves? Are they mostly one people or made up of many?" I ask Edric as Jonnel chats with the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice.

"They are made up of many peoples who were either enslaved at a young age or born into Dothraki captivity. Mayhaps one in ten still speak the tongues of their peoples but most speak only Dothraki and know only the religion and culture of their oppressors. Many of them are eager to cast off the ways of the Dothraki and when I spoke with them a few times before they set sail, many were asking about the customs of the North and the Old Gods with great curiosity!" He says, causing Jonnel and I to look at him in surprise.

"Do you think many of them will adopt our customs and even the Old Gods?" Jonnel asks.

"Aye, some will hold to the customs and faiths of their parents in bondage, some may even hold on to the Dothraki ways, it being the only thing they know. But I'd wager my monthly allowance that most will adopt our ways and start worshipping the Old Gods." Edric responds with conviction. I smile at the news that most of the coming settlers will be willing to assimilate to the North, making settling them easier and hopefully preventing any bouts of xenophobia.

The Southroners and Summer Islanders haven't triggered much negative reaction due to the Southroners mostly intermarrying with the locals, even the six hundred that have migrated from the capital over the years since my return. The Summer Islanders for their part, are barely over a hundred and mainly keep to the docks, their trading post, and Pillow Street, allowing the Northerners to see them as exotic but not intrusive. Both their numbers, while growing fast, are still small enough to be seen as non-threatening to the Northern way of life and I'm worried a thousand foreigners suddenly showing up all at once might trigger a knee-jerk reaction. If most of them are willing to convert to our gods and assimilate, however, that should negate any potential fears of an "invasion" of foreigners.

"What kind of skills do they have?" I ask Edric.

"Roughly four out of five are shepherds and herders who manage the Dothraki cattle. Of the remaining one of five, half are pillow slaves and the other half are skilled craftsmen. While I think you could settle the pillow slaves and craftsmen in Wolfsport, I think you'll have a harder time with the shepherds." Edric explains and I nod.

" I don't intend to settle them in Wolfsport, I intend to settle them on the eastern shore of Sea Dragon Point. It's sparsely populated, poor soil for farming but good lands for pastures. There is a stretch of coastline east of Amber Hill, full of good pastures but mostly abandoned like the small keep that once guarded it from wildlings and Ironborn. You will be in charge of not only settling them in their new home, but restoring and garrisoning the keep when spring arrives. I will be assessing you and depending on how well you complete your task, I'll determine whether or not you deserve land in Sea Dragon Point to call your own." I tell him my plans for the settlers. The eastern shore of my lands have always been the poorest and least populated region so I'm hoping to use them and Edric to help repopulate and refortify the region for the future apocalypse.

Edric and Jonnel's eyes widen in shock.

"Truly, Hugo." Edric says my name, letting me he is taking this seriously. Myrra and my mother call me by name but my brother and cousins always address me as either "brother" or "cousin", only using my name if they're being serious.

"Aye, Edric. Only if you earn it and even if you do, it will be a non-hereditary title." I answer him.

"Wait, why is it non-hereditary?" Edric asks in confusion.

"Think of it as punishment for forcing me to pay for their transport here. I don't mind that you sired a bastard, Edric. I do mind when that bastard costs me five thousand dragons to fix the mess you caused." I say sternly and Edric scratches the back of head looking sheepish. "Which reminds me, what are their plans with the unborn child?" I inquire.

"Prince Qarlan Ennarhan told me he would inform us of the bastard's birth and that they'll be sent to us once the child has been weaned." Edric explains. I nod and glance out into the bay and spot the pod of orcas.

"Look over there! The spotted whales are helping the fishermen!" I point to the bay. Edric, Jonnel, and the two Ibbenese men follow where my finger is pointing and see the pod of orcas swimming in formation towards two fishing boats holding a large net stretched out between them.

"The spotted whales herd large schools of fish into the nets of the fishermen." As I finish my sentence, the fishermen seem to catch a large load as they begin to struggle. Soon enough, they seem to have everything under control and the orcas swim up to the fishermen and begin to feed.

"The fishermen leave their nets open just enough for the spotted whales to eat the trapped salmon. Once they've taken their share, the fishermen will take their haul." I explain what's happening under the surface.

"You ordered the spotted whales to help the fishermen!?" Edric asks in astonishment and I chuckle.

"No, I didn't order them to do anything. I merely formalized our current deal with them, they assist in fishing and whale hunts, they get first pick." I answer and Jonnel chuckles.

"Cousin made a big speech about spotted whales being 'messengers of the Old Gods' and since then, the fishermen and whalers practically worship them!" He says to Edric as we reach the gates. The orcas finish taking their share and allow the fishermen to haul their catch, who wave and toss some salmon to the orcas before I turn my head away and enter Castle Warg.

The rest of House Seastark, along with the fosterlings, greet us in the courtyard, mother wrapping herself around Edric before admonishing him on his recklessness. The rest of my family crowd around him, giving him hugs with the exceptions of Elsa and Myrra, each holding nine moon old Bennard and one moon old Jeyne respectively. I greet five-and-ten moon old Stannis, being held by a maid while the twins are happy to see their uncle. Edric gushes over Jeyne and how big all the children are getting. After a few minutes of catching up, I introduce the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice and show off the chest with the plans. My nine nameday old sister Breyna looks at the foreigners with curiosity.

"Why do you have seashells in your beards?" She asks them innocently.

"Breyna!" My mother goes to scold her for her rudeness but the shipwright laughs.

"Well little lady, in our lands, a shipwright weaves a seashell into their beard for each ship they build." He tilts his head upwards and holds his beard in his hand. "I have forty shells and my apprentice has six and is hoping to get his seventh building a ship for Lord Seastark!" The shipwright answers my sister's question with a raspy but soft voice. She smiles and nods at his explanation before the family and I escort them to the Great Hall for guest right…

One and a half moons later…

As I watch the Essosi disembark from the five-and-ten galleys, cloaked in various furs and looking closer to wildlings to what one usually imagines when they think of Essosi. Only prior announcement to their arrival and the Dothraki tongue they speak prevent the locals from mistaking them for wildlings. The former slaves gaze around the city and bustling harbor in a mixture of awe and exhaustion, the more than five moons of travel by galley no doubt taking a toll on people who have probably never been on a ship before. Some of the poor souls kiss the solid ground when they step off the docks, ecstatic to be off the ships. City guardsmen hand them fur cloaks and loaves of bread, eagerly accepted with words of gratitude in foreign tongues.

Edric and my mother speak with the leaders of the former slaves, a small group of eight older men and women, through a translator brought over by the head captain of the transport fleet. The same man I am currently speaking with.

"Lord Seastark…", the dark-haired Braavosi sellsail captain stands with two crewmembers, addressing me in accented Common Tongue. "…There is still the matter of our payment. We, of the Flying Dolphins, were contracted by the Princes of Lorath to transport these people and their… cattle." He says as I see a pair of bull aurochs being pulled off of one ship, a breeding pair of bison off another, and a breeding pair of musk oxen on a separate third galley. They were joining dozens of reindeer, sheep, and goats already ashore.

"Aye..." I say with a tired sigh and signal to two servants carrying a large chest before setting it down and opening it to reveal numerous golden coins. "…Your payment. Five thousand gold coins as written in your contract with the princes." The captain and crewmembers' mouths widen into a shit-eating grins, revealing a golden top molar in the captain's mouth. The crewmembers take the chest from my servants

"Oh? It seems we have concluded our deal, Lord Seastark." He says, staring at the gold with an avaricious glint in his eye, before looking to me. "The lads will enjoy the next few days in your city, spending their pay in taverns and brothels."

"And I'm sure the whores will appreciate their company, and their coin even more!" I jape. They chuckle but the captain continues.

"If you have need of our services again, then ask for me in the next four days. If not, then we shall sail back to the Narrow Sea and find work there." The captain gives a final short bow and heads back with his crewmembers carrying the chest back to their flagship. I make my way over to where my family and the freedmen leaders were standing. My brother spots me coming their way, gestures to me and then walks a few steps towards me. In full view of not just the freedmen leaders, but many of the freedmen ashore, placed his knee on the ground and knelt, causing a storm of whispers in Dothraki.

"Rise, brother." I command. Now I don't normally have my family kneel to me, but I'm doing this for a reason, I need to quickly establish to them that I'm the one in charge. By having Edric kneel to me in their presence, I can already see from their faces, many of them reaching that very conclusion. The recent arrivals continue to whisper amongst themselves and sending me looks of fear and awe. Edric rises and we walk to my mother and the freedmen leaders. Five men, all middle aged, and three women, one crone and two women in their twenties.

"Greetings, and welcome to Wolfsport! I am Lord Hugo Seastark of Sea Dragon Point, Ser Edric's elder brother and lord of these lands." I introduce myself, the translator does his and job and I note with amusement a quirk of the Dothraki language being that they didn't have a word or sea or ocean, instead calling it ize eventh or "poison water". This meant in Dothraki, our house name is "House Poison-Waterstark of Poison Water Dragon Point" and that their nickname for me is the "Poison water wolf". The old crone, who I idly wonder how they survived the voyage, speaks first to the translator.

"Honorable lord of these lands, we are a people freed from bondage but with no home. Your brother, the black wolf, told us that if we make a great journey, we will find a home in these lands. Does your brother speak true?" The crone speaks with the softness that vaguely reminds me of my grandma from another life, but pierces me with her tired, world-weary eyes.

"My brother speaks true; I offer your people a place to call home. I only require you swear an oath of fealty to me, adhere to the laws of these lands, and learn Common Tongue." I see the freedmen leaders visibly relax when hearing the translator's words, as if they were expecting harsher requirements. One of the leaders, a bald middle-aged man with copper skin, almond shaped eyes, and long salt and pepper beard says something passionately to me in a tongue other than Dothraki.

"Flarys, son of Falrem asks about religion. There are many amongst the freedmen who wish to cast off the Great Stallion and embrace the gods of these lands. But he and two hundred of the group are Lhazareen and do not wish to give up their god, The Great Shepherd. He pleads that you allow his people keep their god and they will faithfully serve you." The translator says and I vaguely recognize the name "Lhazareen" as the people of Lhazar, a land east of Slaver's Bay and south of the Dothraki Sea. From what I remember from the books and show, they were basically the region's punching bag, constantly getting raided and enslaved by Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki.

"Rest assured, while I encourage conversions to the Old Gods, it is not a requirement. As long as you don't practice human sacrifice, break any laws, or try to convert anyone to your faith, then you and your people may worship in peace." I say in a firm voice. The man smiles and eagerly thanks me by cupping his hands to face and bowing multiple times wishing blessings from the Great Shepard to House Seastark.

"Where will we live? Surely we will only stay in this city for winter?" Another leader, a pale scarred man asks me through the translator.

"Indeed, you shall be provided temporary housing in Wolfsport and the surrounding villages for winter. Once spring arrives, the people who wish to be shepherd will settle in their new home. In the nearly empty eastern parts of these lands, between the Wolfswood and the shore, there are good pastures for grazing. My brother has been tasked with restoring a keep and resettling the area and those of you who are shepherd will go with him. Those who are not shepherds may go with my brother, or settle in Wolfsport or any part of my lands." I explain and this starts a round of discussions of where their winter housing will be, and which groups will settle where in spring.

The general agreement is the eight hundred shepherds and herders, including the two hundred Lhazareen, and a hundred craftsmen will go with Edric to their new home while the one hundred pillow slaves wished to settle in Wolfsport. During their stay in winter, they will attend mandatory classes organized by my mother similar to the lessons given to the orphans. The curriculum will be teaching Common Tongue along with the history and customs of the North. It'll be a far cry from the modern education of Earth but hopefully they'll have a basic grasp of Common Tongue by spring. The leaders agree to my terms and move to speak to their people and I watch the freedmen's reactions to my proclamations, a mixture of joy and relief. The leaders then present themselves to me and kneel, or at least the old crone couldn't kneel so I allowed her to get away with a simply bow. The rest of the freedmen kneel and the leaders swear an oath on behalf of their people in their tongues and the translator proclaiming it in Common Tongue. My new subjects rise to their feet and begin to be escorted by the city guard to their temporary housing…

Later…

I sit at the desk in my solar reading a scroll from Oldtown announcing the return of the Yi-Ti expedition, minus two ships lost in a storm in the Jade Sea. Wyman writes that they purchased much in silks, gemstones, paper, saffron, and other spices and will be back in three weeks. I place the scroll down to pick up the next one, eyes widening when I see the royal seal. I open and quickly scan the scroll, a royal announcement of the birth of Princess Cassanna Baratheon. I write a generic congratulations scroll, thinking about the royal succession. Stannis is still currently the heir since Robert hasn't produced any sons yet nor has he declared his eldest daughter Argella heir. Cersei's due to give birth within the next moon but I had a sinking feeling that despite the aid of Myrra and the Tyrion, all my efforts at the wedding were in vain…

A/N: Next chapter might take a while due to work getting crazy. Next chapter will be the expedition's return!