Tse lowered the 'spyeye.' It was beyond words, that something was so large that it could be seen from so far away. "How far away is it?" he asked. Tormund laughed, "Four days hard ride, nearly 100 miles." Ming took the device and looked for himself. He whistled when he saw it. Ming said, "I've been here less than a year, and every day I learn something new like this." Tse said, "Why was it built?" Tormund laughed again, "To keep people like me out. We're fairly dangerous, you see, lad. Well, that and the Ice King and his undead minions. But he's dead now." Tse shook his head; it was all a little too much to take in at once. He turned to Ming and said, "It isn't enough to stop them, Ming; they are still going to come." Ming nodded, "It's why we need you, Tse. Of all the intel officers I have ever worked with, you are still the best." Tse said, "Then what have you got to destroy an entire fleet before it reaches land?" Ming shook his head; he didn't know. But Tormund laughed even louder, "We have dragons, lad, dragons." Tse looked out the window in horror as if a dragon would swoop down and burn them to a crisp, right then.
Ned and Nymeria were on the hunt, no, they didn't go outside in this weather, they were stalking the underground passages. So around the big circle they went. Ned was sure there were mice in here somewhere, and Nymeria just needed to walk. They would stop and sniff at each stairwell, and then keep moving. When they got back around to the Great Hall stairwell, Nymeria was ready to sleep, but Ned castigated her. He was sure there was more hunting to do. So they went on and came to the warehouse stairwell again. This time, Ned sniffed for a long time, and up the stairwell he went. Nymeria followed, and when she got to the top of the stairs, she knew something was wrong. There in the training area was Hassan, vibrating uncontrollably. She went to him and woofed in his face. He was unresponsive, so she snatched him by the collar. She shook him hard once and then dropped him to the floor. When he came to, Nymeria was standing over him, licking his face. He shook himself to gain his bearings and struggled to his feet. He thanked the dire wolf, and she woofed in his ear. Ned came out with a mouse in his mouth, and the three of them went back to the sandkin abode. All three lay down in front of a fire and slept. Hassan owed his life to the wolf, yet again. Ned chewed the head off his mouse and left the rest. If cats could smile, he fell asleep smiling. Early in the morning, a sandkin found the three of them, threw what remained of the mouse into the fire, and left them to sleep.
The winter wore on roughly over the north. Arya got heavier with the child and more cranky as the days went on. Finally, spring broke over the land, and things began to thaw. Arya felt the maternal stirrings, but her body didn't feel right. Her center of gravity was way off, and she started having these cravings. She would pester Bart about eating stupid combinations of foods, and the endlessly patient Bart would listen and feed the woman something. He would feed her tarts when she wanted meat, and meat when she wanted tarts. Vegetables when she wanted fish, and fish when she wanted vegetables. They both got comfortable in this merry-go-round of food. And so her pregnancy passed. In the third week of spring, the twins were born, Bran and Catelyn. They were healthy babies and grew like weeds. The whole city rejoiced at their births, well, that, and the fact that it was spring.
The fort-building teams were sent out to begin the arduous process of carting all the cut stone to each location, then the actual construction. In the intelligence hall, Tse had relented. He had seen enough and would throw his lot in with the easterners. He swore allegiance to Westeros. Ming opened his files to him, and he sat studying the actual maps of the realms. He looked up at Ming and said, "It's huge, the Zon will never conquer it all." "They will try," Ming replied.
Arya was nursing the twins when she felt that telepath ping, and the voice said, "Sails, but they are Amanian." The tower for this fort had barely been raised when they were spotted. Arya yelled at Thomas to send the ice breaker down the coast to the first fort being built. "It's ships from Aman, Thomas."
The ice breaker had not been launched yet. However, a crew was hastily assembled, and she was launched. The bay was still covered in ice, but the massive ship crawled up on top of the ice and broke it. Over and over, her weight opened a path through the ice. Finally, she was in open waters and sailed down the coast. The small collection of Amanian ships had put ashore at the first water they saw. They were given food and told to wait for the "Black Hand' to arrive. They were amazed by the ship when it showed up a few days later. And they followed it back to Brandon's Rest.