Lady Mormont felt well rested when she woke. She had spent the night in a bed that somehow had shown up in her chosen living space after she had ordered all bedding and sleeping areas cleared of the filth and the reminders. She didn't question it, because then she would have to ask where it all came from and how it fit through the small door of her large room. She didn't notice the room itself was bigger as well to house the bed without crowding everything else out.

She rose to her feet and her daughter clung to her in her sleep. She let out a chuckle at that, gently pried her tiny hands off of her, and gave her the stuffed wolf toy that Arya Stark had given to her, to remember Jon by. Again, she didn't ask where the girl had gotten it from, because she knew she didn't want to know.

There seemed to be a few more of them spread out among all the young girls in their improvised barracks. The Highgarden soldiers had set up oddly sturdy and easily built living spaces that were full of beds, personal chamber pots, and places to wash. Lady Mormont went to the room chosen for her own personal space, instead of doing it in the bedroom, and she couldn't help smiling into the large mirror on the wall.

To the traditional woman that was used to living a rough life, modern conveniences were almost like magic to her. But, they worked and she cleaned herself up just as quickly as she had the day before with three girls to help.

Her eyes went to the large white tub and she promised herself she would avail herself of the pleasure that night, as soon as she handled organizing all of the people that Jon had somehow freed in a single night. Again, she didn't question it and assumed he had many more men and many more ships, just as every other woman rescued assumed.

None of them knew it was only Jon and he had torched all those raiding ships and their crews by himself. As for his men, they assumed most of the Ironborn fled and a good portion of them died when their ships were torched, since that was the tactic they used to sack the Ironborn capital.

Lady Mormont went back into her room and saw her daughter was still asleep and went over to the bed, petted her head with a smile on her face, and went to her closet. Again, it was full of fancy dresses and a few sets of leather armors, all of which fit her for some reason, and she chose a mix. A regal dress that went well with her grey hair and a cloak of bear fur that she suspected had been a blanket.

She laughed as she put the surprisingly soft and warm thing on, then she strapped bracers on her forearms and pulled on boots that added four full inches to her height. She stood and wasn't shaky on the things, smiled again as she reached for a sheathed sword on the back of the door, and strapped it to her belt.

Lady Mormont was appropriately dressed now, as she always strove to be, and she let her daughter sleep as she went out into the daylight just after the break of dawn to start her day. Like most of the people in the North, her day always started early and was pretty much over by the time of the midday meal, and that was the way she liked it.

“Good morning, Lady Paramount of the Iron Islands.” Jon Snow greeted her formally when she left the small keep, as if he was waiting for her.

“Boy.” She responded, only it wasn't sarcastic. Her respect for the boy had risen as he fed all of the people that arrived and he didn't complain once, even though she knew he was raised in Winterfell and was Ned Stark's bastard, someone that usually didn't have to work hard his entire life as everything was provided for him.

“Would you like to eat now or wait for your lady daughter?” Jon asked and nodded towards the center of town.

Lady Mormont didn't have to think about it. “As a proper lord, we eat with our people.”

Jon smiled and motioned for her to follow him. Curious, she did so without question. They walked down a path from the small keep along the shore and soon arrived at a large decrepit boathouse. He unlatched the complicated lock and pulled the main door open and let the thing swing out over the water, then waved inside.

Lady Mormont gave him a stern look, as if asking if he thought she was stupid, and he laughed.

“I've already checked it for traps, hidden assassins, and guard animals.” Jon said and stepped around her and went inside and out of sight.

Maege gave his back a glare before she followed him inside and caught her breath. Inside were stacks and stacks of crates, similar to the small stash they had found, only they were stacked almost to the ceiling. Foods, various goods, and weapons were clearly marked.

“I spent the night using the list we made yesterday comparing the writing on the crates to what we knew were inside after we opened the other ones.” Jon said and patted one of the many crates. “I don't know why the Ironborn were sitting on all of this, except if they sold too many stolen goods, they would be caught. There aren't many places that things like this can be sold without the original owners finding out about it.”

Maege managed to bring herself under control before she spoke. “Then how do you expect me to sell them without being declared a pirate?”

Jon walked over to her. “Because pirates have to sell where they know they can offload the goods without getting caught.” He said with a grin. “In Essos.”

Maege caught her breath again at the thought. “The foreign writing! It's from the free cities!”

“Braavos, I think.” Jon said and pointed to a small burn mark on one of the crates. “If I'm not mistaken, that's a custom mark from their main port house. I'm sure I've seen it on a few of the crates Lord Stark bought in White Harbour last winter for a few Golden Dragons.”

Maege nodded. She knew Ned bought food and seeds from all over. “We'll need to go through everything, catalogue it, and find out how much it's worth to split.”

Jon started to shake his head and her hand darted out and grabbed his shoulder.

“You found it. You brought me here and shared it with me instead of keeping it secret.” Lady Mormont said and smiled evilly. “You will take an equal split or I'll send one of the fishing boats to the mainland to retrieve one of my recently flowered daughters and have her take you as her husband.”

“I'm too young to...” Jon started to protest.

“So is she.” Maege cut him off. “That won't prevent her from tying you to the family.”

Jon looked into her eyes and sighed. “I'll take a 40% share of the saleable goods, since the food you'll need to feed your people here and back in Bear Island.”

“Oh? Don't you want a few crates of the fruits to take back to Highgarden with you? I'm sure the seeds alone are worth quite a lot if they can start growing them in The Reach instead of having to send all the way to Essos for them.”

Jon opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “All right, one of each crate and food bag I can see here. That's about 10% of the food.”

“Making your split 50%? Good. That's good.” Maege said and snaked her hand around his neck and pulled him into a bear hug and Jon grunted. She was surprised that with her boots adding to her just over five feet of height, she was now a head taller than the boy and he fit against her almost perfectly.

Why almost? Their crotches were almost touching, with hers above his, and his head was firmly nestled between her large breasts. If she took off the boots, their crotches would meet perfectly and they could stare into each other's eyes as they made slow and passionate love.

Maege couldn't stop her face from growing red as she felt him growing as well in reaction to her letting him wallow in her soft flesh. She realized then that their crotches weren't as far apart as she thought they were and her thoughts of allowing one of her daughters have him, were joined with her own thoughts of what kind of man he would become when he was of age.

As if he knew what she was thinking, his hands slid up her back and he embraced her like a man should, with tenderness and care, and he lifted his face from her chest and looked right into her eyes.

“I should be about a foot taller than you when I'm fully grown, Lady Mormont.” Jon said and she felt sad about that, then he spoke. “That won't make any difference if we're laying down in bed.”

Maege laughed and couldn't have stopped herself if she tried, and she didn't. She laughed and laughed as Jon's smile grew into a grin, because her jiggling chest was right there in front of his face.

“Incorrigible.” Maege said when she started to calm down. She took a deep breath, which did wonderful things to her breasts as they heaved up, then she let it out in a long drawn out sigh. “I'll be a little old to benefit from that when you reach your six and ten nameday.”

What she didn't say was she would be 50 years old at that point and might not enjoy a good roll in the hay at all, let alone with a strapping young man. Then again, she had been feeling a lot less of her years lately and had a lot more energy than she usually did. She couldn't even remember the last time her nipples hardened and she grew wet down there after only simple hug.

“You might be surprised what a determined woman can do, no matter her age.” Jon said, wisely.

Maege blinked her eyes at his confidence. “You...” She paused and unconsciously licked her lips. “Are you speaking from experience?”

Jon gave her his best award-winning smile and she blushed just from that. “Yes.” He said and dropped his hands to her ass and kissed her.

Maege moaned before she could stop herself and her mouth moved on its own as she kissed him back. A boy, just barely eight namedays old, made her feel more like a woman in that moment than any other man she ever met, including her long dead husband and she had loved him fiercely.

Then the kiss was over and both her mouth and her ass felt the loss. Jon stepped back from her, bowed deeply and he thanked her for the privilege, then he walked out of the abandoned boathouse. Maege blinked her eyes at his back and her plans to send for one of her daughters, to snag the young man into the family, suddenly became much more important in her mind.

*

Edmure Tully, heir of Lord Hoster Tully, Lord Paramount of the Trident, rode with all due haste towards Oldtown with a squad of his best men. His sister, Catelyn Stark, had begged him to rescue her youngest daughter from the bastard boy that kidnapped her, Jon Snow.

The rumors about that boy were just too unbelievable to be true and Edmure dismissed most of them. The ones he chose to believe, about being a hard worker and helping people, only made the boy's betrayal of the Starks all the more harsh. They took him in, fed him, housed him, and provided for him, and he had the gall to abandon them and run off with one of Catelyn's daughters.

As they rode to the Crossroads Inn, where the exchange took place and Arya had been abandoned by the Stark soldiers sent to guard the carriage, they met up with another group that were also seeking the boy for his crimes against House Stark. They avoided each other during the last leg of their journey, only to reach the inn at nearly the same time and both groups started asking about Arya Stark and the carriage that had been there nearly a month ago.

They realized they shared the same goal, under the same orders by Lady Stark, and combined their resources to follow the clear trail from there, to Oldtown, the citadel, and then off to Highgarden. It was all too easy to find Jon Snow's trail, with the money he spent, and they were eager to hunt the traitor down and make him pay for what he did.

Unfortunately, they found the road blocked before they could reach the seat of Highgarden itself. Farmers, a couple of guards, and two young men wearing highborn finery were waiting for them before they could ascend the hill to approach the doors to the castle proper.

“Whatever you are here to do, you won't be allowed to do it on Tyrell lands.” Garlan said.

“Listen here, boy...” Edmure Tully started to say, his anger getting the better of him.

“They're long gone.” Loras said proudly as he spoke a twisted form of the truth. “As soon as they had access to a ship, they left. Swift as can be, along the Mander, and out to sea.”

“We don't even know where they are right now.” Garlan said with a smile, understanding where his older brother was intentionally misleading the group of angry soldiers. “I suggest finding your own ship somehow and start searching the open sea. They couldn't have gotten far in the last two weeks they've been gone.”

“Yes, good luck with that.” Loras said and waved back down the road. “There are plenty of ships in Oldtown that would welcome such a long and open-ended commission.”

The commander of the Tully soldiers put his hand on the hilt of his sword. “I only see two boys and a bunch of farmers here to stop us if we decided to ask the Lord of Highgarden about the people that visited his home.”

The crops fields on either side of the road seemed to ripple and sixty men with long and sharp spears stood up and stepped towards the sorely outnumbered men on horseback.

“I would take care of what you say to a future Knight of the Rose.” Loras said, his smile long gone. “Our right to defend ourselves from aggressors is not something you should question, ser.”

The commander moved his hand back to the reins he held and no one missed that Loras hadn't added the usual 'good' before ser when addressing a knight. “I was merely making an observation.” The man said and nervously glanced at the very sharp spears aimed at him and his horse.

“As was I.” Loras said and pointed behind them. “You have no authority here and can return to your own lands, or you can continue your pointless search somewhere else.”

“They are here.” Edmure said, sure of it.

“They were, as I said.” Loras responded and folded his arms across his chest. “They left the harbour nearly two weeks ago.”

“I think they mentioned Essos.” Garlan said. “I'm not sure why they'd leave on a ship from here if they wanted to go there, though. It takes a long time to sail all the way around Westeros and up to the main port city near the top of Essos.”

“You're right, Garlan. They should have spent three weeks travelling back to Kings Landing and buying passage there to Braavos. It's best to start at the main port, rather than waste their time trying to go to Pentos or Myr first. You can't do anything in those cities without being introduced, I've heard.” Loras said and looked back at Edmure Tully. “I'm sure someone in Old Town will know the best way to find someone heading to Essos.”

Edmure knew they were lying, only he had no way to call them on it, not with being outnumbered and with weapons pointed at him. He held in his sigh at being stopped from searching the last place Jon Snow and Arya Stark had been seen. With a nod and not a word of contriteness, despite how he felt, he motioned for his men to turn around and the Stark soldiers went with them.

None of them would let the insult stand and would send word back to their respective lords about the harsh treatment from the representatives of Highgarden. Why couldn't they just step aside and let them find out the truth of where the boy and girl were? Why were they helping to hide them?

Little did Edmure Tully know that a ship had already been sent off by Lady Mormont to the mainland to reach the nearest town with a maester. She needed word sent to Bear Island quickly for reinforcements and protectors, not to mention her other daughters.

Soon, ravens would be sent to several important people all across Westeros, including one in Kings Landing, to let the Hand of the King know that the Ironborn had been dealt with permanently. They would no longer be a problem for the crown or the people along the shores of Westeros, thanks to the new Lord Paramount of the Iron Islands, Lady Mormont, and the one who cleansed them on her behalf.

Jon Snow, the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, would soon gain much more renown than he ever thought he would, and he wasn't even trying to do so.

*

In Dorne, Arianne Martell woke to a surprise that she couldn't have been happier about. She had unexpected riches and her father was dead. She couldn't be shuffled off to marry some dusty old man to get her out of the way for her younger brother to become the ruler of Dorne.

The best part about it all, was her hated brother had been off fostering under Lord Anders Yronwood as a page since he was a young boy, to settle the blood debt their uncle had with the previous Lord Yronwood that he killed in a duel.

Arianne had also seen the letter her father had sent to Quentyn about three years ago, ordering him to work hard under the Master at Arms and the maester at Yronwood, to become strong in mind and body to rule Dorne in the future. Well, that wasn't happening now, was it?

She was seven and ten by local custom, or seventeen years of age, and was the ruler of Dorne by custom and by law. No one could fight her for it, either. Why? Because things were going to change around here and they would answer to her. No longer would the contributions of women be ignored and the men given preferential treatment.

If the men didn't like that, then perhaps a more stricter version would be needed. Or better yet, a reversal. If they make too much of a fuss, then switching how hings worked would be more suitable instead.

The first thing she needed to do was send a message to someone named Atlas to thank him for giving her everything she ever wanted, including riches and returning a childhood friend to her that she thought was lost at sea a month ago. Perhaps, she will ask him to visit as well. Her friends were very confused about how they had been returned and were also very, very grateful.