Mance mulled over everything he had heard for a few minutes before he finally sighed and asked the most important question, "Let's assume for a few moments that I can somehow convince some of the Free Man and Woman to leave their spears and sword behind to pick up saws and shovels... What exactly will you give us in return? Because, if it's money, then it would be useless because it's not exactly valuable out there in a blizzard,"
"Of course, we'll trade with the one thing that you're most in need of," Lawrence said confidently and at their confused expression he smiled, "I am talking about Food!"
Ygritte's face lit up with excitement at the mention of food, but Mance burst into loud laughter, "T-That is very funny," he managed to say amid chuckles, "It is a very good joke, you almost had me for a moment," he said, shaking his head with a smile.
"But it's not a joke though," Lawrence said, amusement in his expression, "I am very serious about trading crops and grains with you."
"Do you take me for some ignorant Wildling, boy? Someone who only knows how to swing their weapon and eat," Mance asked with a raised eyebrow, "Let me tell you something. When you were just a wee little toddler sucking at your mother's teats, I was already travelling across the North and beyond the Wall as a ranger in the Watch. I've travelled to Winterfell, to the land of Umbers, and even to the Dreadfort. I know this place like the back of my hand."
Lawrence opened his mouth to say something, but Mance didn't let him and continued, "You think I don't know what people here go through every winter? Do you think I don't know how many of them starve to death or how many fields get destroyed because of sudden summer snow? And you somehow expect me to believe that you have enough crops left over to trade with the Wildlings," he finished with disbelief on his face.
There was silence for a few moments as the Wildling King finished his rant before Lawrence spoke again, "You've been to Bear Islands before, haven't you?" When Mance nodded his head, Lawrence continued, "So you know about the difference between what it is now and how it was before and the sudden prosperity that has arrived on this island. Do you think this is just a temporary thing or a trick?"
Mance started to reply, but Lawrence didn't let him talk, "No, it's not! You say that you've seen the whole of the North, and I believe you, but have you ever been to the South? Have you ever seen the lush fields of crops in the South, where barely anyone ever goes hungry, where every single farm has more crops than they know what to do with, have you even seen their green forests filled with fruits?" Mance didn't reply, and just stared at the boy, waiting to see where he was going with this, "Where do you think my captain is at the moment?"
"In the place you're talking about, I suppose," Mance said, intrigued.
"Exactly," Lawrence nodded with a gleam in his eyes, "He is out there making deals with the southern nobles so that we too can get those cheap crops so that no one here has to go hungry. And he doesn't intend to stop just there, no, he is planning to go big... From Dorne to Pentos to Lys... eventually, every place that has fertile land will be connected to the North by the sea... So you don't have to worry about us ever running out of food to trade with you."
Finally, Mance started to believe a little that it wasn't all half-rambling of a young man and that it could all be true, but he still had doubts, "Why? Why would he—your captain do this? Why would he go to such lengths for the Free Men of the North or the people you call Wildlings?"
"Of course, for the same reason you became a king," Lawrence said with a knowing smile. He had heard a lot about Mance from Jon and knew the kind of person he was, "Because we know about the truth, the creatures that threaten to destroy all living things, we know the future that awaits us... We know about The Walking Dead."
Mance's eyes immediately widened as he stood up in shock, "What! How?"
"Because we have eyes everywhere," he said mysteriously, and for a moment, Mance's thoughts immediately went to the stories he had heard of the man called the Three-Eyed-Raven, but almost immediately, he dismissed that notion as they were suddenly startled by a hawk soaring towards them from a lush tree behind Lawrence. The hawk came to sit on his shoulders comfortingly while the boy kept looking at them with a smile on his face.
It took Mance embarrassingly long to put the clues together, and when he did, his eyes widened even further as he breathed, "You're a Warg!" He didn't know there were any of those left on this side of the Wall.
"We all are," Lawrence said with a smile, and this time, they were even more startled as a massive bear suddenly stumbled out of the forest. Mance and Ygritte tried to stumble backwards to get away, but the boy stayed put, and the silent girl alarmingly went towards the massive brown bear and started actually petting it, which the bear seemed to like from its expression and low growling.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ygritte shouted, succinctly putting both their thoughts out.
It took a while before Mance calmed down from these sudden surprises, and when he was finally able to put his thoughts together, he asked Lawrence, "And this captain of yours is obviously one too..." When Lawrence nodded, he continued, "Now it makes me want to meet him even more."
"He says that you've met him before," Lawrence said with a smirk.
"Huh? When?" Mance asked, with a puzzled expression, trying to remember if he had ever met someone like that.
"Do you remember that time when you travelled to Winterfell with Lord Commander Qorgyle to meet Lord Eddard Stark, and you were among the Black Brothers escorting him?" It took him a while, but he eventually remembered that trip and nodded, "Well, he says that you caught him and his brother playing a prank, and when you did, you promised not to tell anyone—"
"Those brats!" Mance exclaimed, "I remember them! They were going to prank not just anyone but Lady Stark... But that means..."
"Yes," Lawrence nodded, seeing the wide-eyed look in Mance's eyes, while Ygritte just looked at them with confusion while occasionally glaring at the mute girl and her bear, "One of those boys was Robb Stark, the heir of Winterfell, and the other was our captain, Jon Snow."
"So that brat's already big enough that he becomes a captain and even has people doing his errands," he mumbled to himself with a shake of his head, "I can't wait to meet him then."
"Oh, you don't have to wait," Lawrence said with a mischievous smile, "He's been here all along."
Almost immediately, Mance and Ygritte started to look around into the forest vigilantly. They had already been tricked twice, so this time they were going to be prepared... or so they thought. But when something wet touched Ygritte from behind, she looked behind her to find a massive ShadowCat licking her hand and immediately screamed and jumped a meter into the air, "FUCK! SHIT! SHIT! AGH!" she cursed incoherently as she stumbled away from the predator while Mance tried not to have a heart attack as the big cat actually snorted in amusement while going towards the two people from before.
Finished with their pranks and their conversation, Lawrence and Asha started to leave into the trees with a hawk, a bear, and a shadow cat behind them, and the only thing they left behind were the words, "...Remember, we will meet again after three months on your shores beyond the walls, so prepare as many things as you want to trade..."
...
Jon opened his eyes with a mischievous smile on his face, it was quite fun teasing Ygritte who in the other life would have been tickled by the prank on her.
While he had the intention to do something about the people beyond the Wall from the Start, this plan involving Mance and all the Wildlings had only recently taken shape when his minion sent him a letter reporting about two long wildlings entering the North.
It hadn't taken him long to find out who they were and why they were coming, so his mind immediately started spinning a plan that would be his first shot at poking a hole into the White Walkers' conquest plan.
Now, all that was left was to see if Mance managed to convince the wildlings under him, prepare enough things, and bring them to the shore to make his plan feasible.
"Jon!" he heard Dacey call him and stood up from his spot at the planks above on the port, and went towards where she was standing in front of their main ship.
"Are you ready to leave then?"
"Yes," said Dacey, looking behind her at the ship which was fully loaded, "This is the last ship, and everyone's already boarded. I am the last one... So are you really not coming?"
"No, I want to go the Citadel and look into the books there to see if there is some information on a bird I heard about from the people nearby... it is said to be the smallest and the fastest bird in reach, one that is rarely seen... so I hope to find it," Jon explained while looking at the crew members who were waving at him from the ship, "And besides someone needs to be here when our new ships are delivered by the Tyrells,"
"Fine then," Dacey sighed while massaging her head, "It's just that it would be too much work without you. I can already imagine that I wouldn't get a moment's rest..."
"Don't worry, you'll do just fine," Jon said while patting her shoulders consolingly, "Just remember the most important points. The first thing you need to remember is the proper allocation. Two ships will go to Flint's Finger, three ships to Barrowtown, two to Torrhen's Square, one to Stony Shore, and the rest to Bear Island and Deepwood Motte."
Dacey nodded, properly remembering where how many ships filled with crops would be sent. After a few moments, Jon continued, "And another thing you need to make sure of is that no one is to sell anything at more than twice the crop's value—"
"Do we really need to do that?" Dacey interrupted him with a pout, "We won't earn much from that at all. I think that even if we sell them at a bit more, it would still be a lot cheaper than what they are currently buying, so they'll still be grateful."
Jon shook his head and said with a smile, "The people in the North are already not very rich, and we don't really need to earn money from them, especially for food. Besides, there will be enough money coming in the future from selling other things in the South, so money is one thing that we'll never have to worry about."
"Alright," she said with a deflated sigh.
"And you need to pick up enough sailors from our school so that our more veteran sailors can be freed to move to the new Galleons," Jon added.
"Yeah! Yeah, I know," Dacey said before she gave him a hug and started to leave towards the ships, "I'll get going then."
"Safe travels," Jon said, waving his hand as the ship slowly pulled out of the docks. He stayed there watching it drift away until Sam came to him and said, "Jon, the captain says the ship is ready to depart. We should board."
Jon turned to look at the ship they had rented and saw that they had finished loading, so he put his arm around his new friend's shoulder and said with a smile, "Let's go then, and see what the ancient city of Oldtown has in store for us..."
///