Date: August 11, 312 After Landing, Summer
Location: Sea Dragon Point
Dacey Mormont-Rogers
Steve,
We waited all these years for you to return to us. Prayed by the Old Gods and the New that they would answer our prayers and see fit to return you to us. But after so long, we finally…reluctantly…realized you were gone.
Men from all over the North searched for you. When word that the Wall had fallen spread many didn't believe it, but King Eddard knew it had to be true. He raised his banners and took them to where the ruins of Castle Black lay. My condition…prevented me from traveling, but I sent forth as many men as we could spare. It took months for the levies to reach the ruins, even with the oddly calm weather that helped us move much more quickly. They found thousands of dead, most who had obviously died before The Fall (as the event has come to be known), but many still who died when it all came down.
They say that your friend, Jon, was found on the third day. Our King was said to wept for weeks afterward. But weeks went by still with no sign of you. They continued their search, turning over every blackened leaf and piece of ash they could find in the woods nearby, finding signs of millions of dead but no sign of you for the longest time. After weeks they did find your shield and my family's Valyrian steel sword, and had them returned to me, but not your body. They also found the bodies of the Others, burned and blackened by a terrible fire, but one had obviously been killed by you and that blade. If it hadn't been for the events to the South drawing them away, I believe King Eddard would have continued the search to this very day. But when the Dragon Queen joined her forces with those of Dorne and the Young Targaryen defenses needed to be planned.
You should know that when King Eddard returned to Winterfell, he placed Jon's bones in the family crypt. They also erected a small monument for you in the crypt as well, declaring for all the world that you were a part of their family. I can't begin to tell you how much prestige that gave our family.
The Alliance you built between the North and Dorne ultimately proved to be our saving grace. The Targaryen Armies rolled over those of Stannis Baratheon, surging in the Reach and Stormlands and washing them in fire before reaching King's Landing. But they stopped short of invading the Riverlands. Queen Daenerys Targaryen retook her families castle, after executing Stannis Baratheon via dragon flame, and then held a parley with the other great leaders of Westeros.
It was at this parley that she reviled her involvement with what happened at the Wall. She acknowledged Dorne's alliance with the North, and the strength of you, and promised that her armies would not set foot in the North as long as she was Queen. With the North's close ties to the Iron Islands and the Westerlands, this declaration eventually pushed them closer to the North and a few years later they were formally incorporated into the Kingdom of the North. With the continent effectively divided in two, it was only natural that a marriage between Sansa Stark and the Queen's nephew, Aegon, should take place to tie the families together and cement the new peace.
Sea Dragon Point has flourished since you left. The public works, roads and sewers and everything else you started, finished and are continued to be maintained. The people are more than happy and content, and the public education you insisted on has resulted in making our town into something of a miniature Old Town. Maesters of the Citadel have trekked here, and learned alongside the sons and daughters of your citizens. But fear not, I found many of the things you were working on in your shed and kept them away from prying eyes.
Oddly enough, the cycle of Long Summers and Winters seem to have been broken as well. Something we are attributing to that brief but ferocious war North of the Wall. It does get warmer and colder, but it's a more usual cycle. Maesters in the Citadel, scientist here, and even Priests of R'hllor seem to agree that the magic wielded by the Others was to blame for the Long Winters, and without them the world has returned to a more normal cycle. All I know is that we no longer have to horde years' worth of food.
Sea Dragon Army is perhaps the most feared military force on the continent, using your cannons to protect the people. As you said, walls would never need be built with these weapons. A few pirates once tried to raid our shores a few summers ago. There ships were sank before they made it into the harbor. I didn't know how you wanted your weapons to be used, but I made an agreement with King Eddard, and later his son, to build them for him and supply them with "gunpowder." The gold from this deal has been used to build our city large and powerful. I know that these cannons have been placed in a handful of locations, just where they would be needed in case of war, and so far no one else has been able to replicate your designs. Still, cannon and pike formations will soon be evolving to cannon and rifle here. King Robert agreed to let Sea Dragon Point be the sole users of rifles in the North, but we are paid to maintain a supply large enough to field the entire North should it ever be needed.
Sea Dragon Capital completed on time. Following your wishes we established a democracy here, dividing our lands into smaller territories that are lorded over by Governors. These Governors meet here in the Capital and discuss matters of a local level, while our family sits backs and only gets involved in matters of "state" that are too important. I know it isn't what you would have liked, but it is working well. Many of our neighboring Lords have begun similar changes, and next year King Robert said he would do the same thing with us Lords by gathering us all in Winterfell more regularly to discuss laws and matters of state.
I wish…there are many things I wish…but above them all I wish you could have met your children, Steven and Jorah. I was as surprised as everyone else when I gave birth to twins, and while they look nothing alike they still look so much like you. Sometimes too much, and it hurts. You should see them, they are so strong. Steven I think was named well. Much like you he loves to hunt and fish, and takes to the sword and shield like a natural. Jorah is a little smaller, but still larger than any of the other boys their age. He is also something of a scholar, taking to the books much more easily than Steven.
Little Dalton, the She Kraken's son, spends much time here as well, and your three sons have become as close as any brothers. While Asha and I will never be friends, we agreed to put aside our issues for the sake of your children. All three of the boys are equally comfortable on land and sea, and get along well. But just between you and I, you should be lucky my children were born first. If they hadn't I would have found you in the afterlife and dragged you to Hell.
…I don't know where you are, but I hope these words find you well. I hope you have finally found the peace you have sought since arriving in our lands. I suppose I should get going. Our first exploration vessel has returned from the West. They found a new continent there, and we are currently calling it "America" in your honor. If not for you, we would never have found it. So far there is no sign of people living there, and could be an interesting Northern colony.
Loving you always,
Dacey Rogers