Version 2.0
In Jarl Fisher's lands, the Ironborn warband was driven off. The Rider King along with Jarl Fisher were finally able to push the warband back towards the sea where they promptly left with all the loot they had acquired. After raiding for many weeks, burning and pillaging, they had accumulated a substantial haul of goods and captives, but finally, they withdrew, their longships disappearing into the horizon as they sailed back to the Iron Islands.
Meanwhile, in the northern reaches of the Glover and Warg Kings' lands, the Ironborn raiders found themselves cornered. Laden with the spoils of their successful raids, they tried to flee, but the Glover and Warg king had regrouped and launched a counterattack whilst they were lading their longships. A chaotic battle ensued near the coastline. Ironborn warriors fell, as others cared only for their ships and their stolen treasures. This allowed many of their longships to escape, as they left behind those who were attacked first. Despite the losses, the Ironborn ships make it back to the sea, sailing away with what plunder they could carry.
/
Much time had passed as the Children of the Forest had withdrawn from the human world. But the destruction of a weirwood grove at the hands of the Blackwood King's rise to prominence had sent shockwaves through the remaining groves. In the aftermath of that sacrilege, the Children had become more insular than ever before. Fearful of further attacks, they pulled back from all contact with humanity, retreating into their hidden sanctuaries deep within the forests.
The Children remained kind to those few humans who still stumbled across their paths, but they were careful now, more cautious than they had been in ages. They no longer ventured out to see wisdom or aid as they once had. The groves themselves became hidden from the eyes of men, veiled in layers of magic and mist, making it nearly impossible for anyone to find them. The Children still lived among the ancient trees and tended to the weirwoods, but they did so in solitude, their songs never reaching human ears ever again.
The groves closest to Brandon had completely vanished from the human world. The Children there had suffered grievously during the battle against the Blackwood King and Aloe, and so had retreated even deeper into the forest. With so few of them left they shrouded their grove in rituals, ensuring that no one—neither friend nor foe—could find their home again.
The Children still watched over the land, their connection to the old gods and the weirwoods unwavering, but they had decided that humanity itself was no longer their concern. They would let the kingdoms of men rise and fall and only care for their Gods and their connection with them. Maybe only in dire circumstances would they consider stepping into the affairs of the human world again.
However, after the battle with the Blackwood King and the sudden emergence of wargs across the north, the Children of the Forest began to stir from their isolation. The rise of warg abilities among the northern people could not be ignored, with such a clear sign from their Gods, they could not brush past it. Quietly and without fanfare, the Children ventured out from their hidden groves to seek out these newly awakened wargs.
They came to the wargs, both known and hidden, in the stillness of the night or the quiet solitude of the woods. Some of these individuals had already embraced their powers, while others had no idea, they possessed them, keeping their strange dreams and connections to animals' secret for fear of Celtic retribution or others' fear of it.
The Children taught them the ways of warging, passing down knowledge that they had kept for thousands of years. They showed these men and women how to connect with the creatures they could control, how to fully harness their abilities, and how to guard their minds from being overwhelmed by the beasts they could inhabit. They taught them that warging was not just a gift but a responsibility from the Gods, a gift to be treasured but one that must be used with care and caution.
It was a connection to the Gods and a way for them to speak and be in the presence of the Gods, and to shun away from it was to shun the voice of the Gods.
Those wargs who had not known of their powers or had hidden them away found their lives transformed. Some had been fearful of what they might become or had doubted the strange connection they felt with animals. But the Children's teachings brought clarity, and a reason to use their powers and not hide and cower from them. The Children urged them to spread their knowledge, to seek out others with similar abilities, and to teach them in turn. The Children told them that there were more wargs in the north than anyone knew, many still undiscovered, and more that would be born.
Once the Children had imparted their wisdom, they would vanish as quickly as they had come, returning to their hidden groves. They offered no more aid and made no lasting bonds with the wargs. They did not interfere in human affairs beyond the teaching. Their role, as they saw it, was to prepare these new wargs for the challenges to come, not to fight alongside them or become involved in the politics of men. They had delivered the knowledge and then withdrew, leaving the future in the hands of those who had been touched by the old gods.
And so the wargs did as instructed finding others like them teaching them and guiding them in what their powers were, and to control it and not be controlled instead. The teaching of the Old Gods and that to have these powers was a responsibility to embody the Old Gods and to see their wisdom in choosing them for this power.