Broonmark trudged through the snow, this was nothing new to him. The Talz had long lived in the Heavy snows of Hoth and it was as natural as breathing to him. But these chills in the wind were sharp and had a lingering unnaturalness to them that he could not ignore. His leader was right, something was indeed very wrong beyond the wall.
That was where he was right now. The dropship that had brought droids and supplies to the Ship had also dropped him off beyond the massive structure the local humans called the Wall. It would have been difficult for him to get here otherwise so it just seemed the best way to go about it. That had been several days ago and now Broonmark was establishing his base camp. A small cave in a place called the Frostfangs, not that he knew about that. But he had his cave, a cache of tech, a fire, and his vibro-sword and a couple of blasters. He would do fine.
But as Broonmark made his way through the heavy snow of winter beyond the wall, he stopped. A low growl escaped his tube like mouth and his four large black eyes looked back at the shift in the snow. Something was following him. And whatever it was wasn't doing a good job at it.
"We can hear you whelp, come out and face us like a real warrior." Broonmark said as he reached for the massive slab of metal that he had beaten into a sword. Much like his leader, he wanted a weapon that would not immediately win him every fight. So he took a piece of the ship that the droids probably wouldn't need and fashioned himself a decent blade that he sharpened on the skulls of the North mountain clans. He called it Savage Cracker, because nine times out of ten that's what it did.
"My… you'ra big one. Came for a giant but found somethin' more beasty." A red haired human said as he came out of the trees. Broonmark groaned… he wanted that wookie feast. He couldn't kill this one. Stupid leader and his stupid bet. The human looked like he was young, probably just stopped being a whelp. Human aging was strange. He was dressed in better rags than the savages of the North mountains, rustic furs well made and tailored in a manner that spoke to a culture that knew how to make efficient garments for the harsh climate. "But your head will still look mighty fine outside my tent." Oh… that was interesting.
"Come then, try to take us down." Broonmark growled excitedly as at least this human didn't immediately run in fear at seeing him. That happened far too often for his liking.
The redheaded human pulled out a large bronze sword and charged at Broonmark. A great battle roar came from the human, the Talz would grant this human some respect as a warrior unafraid of a strange and scary foe. The man jumped out of the snow and swung hard down on Broonmark, but the Talz was faster than his size suggested and unsheathed his club of a sword. A hard ring of metal hitting metal sounded between the two fighters but as they disengaged they both felt their smiles dropped. One look at the bronze sword in the human's hand and they both knew this was not a fight that could be done evenly… as the softer metal had completely bent in half.
"That uh… doesn't usually happen." The human said with all the embarrassment of a man finding himself impotent in front of a naked woman. But then his smirk returned as he tossed the useless weapon aside. "Fine then, do this like with Bessie." Broonmark didn't know what the human was talking about but he respected this human's willingness to fight despite the loss of his primary weapon. Plus the… bet.
"We do not wish to fight you humans, very good food is on the line." And with that Broonmark stabbed his blade into the ground. An ancient sign of a Talz wishing for there to be no conflict. He did not want this to devolve into a fist to claw fight as Broonmark could easily kill the human barehanded and he did not want to lose the bet. Thankfully the human seemed a bit taken off by the action, Broonmark knew that he had no chance of convincing the human to go away based on words alone. There grew a silence between the two warriors before Broonmark suddenly sprang into action, pulling out a blaster from his hip and shooting a spying droid that had been watching them. Or at least the Talz assumed it was a droid. "What… is that."
Tormund watched as the strange beast walked over to the dead corpse. He had come to the Frostfangs in search of a Giant to kill. That would make one great story to tell, much better than the one where he fucked a bear. But he had not found a single giant but he had found some great monster. It was unlike anything in the stories. Covered in white fur, wearing strange clothes like a person, four black disk like eyes and a weird tube thing under them. It was as big as a bear standing up and Tormund could tell it was as strong as one. He slayed it, he would be a legend among the Free Folk.
But his sword that he nicked off a Thenn wasn't up for becoming a legend as well. It had bent clean along the slab of metal that the beast carried on its back. It was getting all set for a good brawl, doing it the old fashion way but then the beast started growling something loudly and then stabbed its weapon into the ground. Tormund didn't really understand what it was trying to say and he was about to just charge in anyway but then they both heard something snap a branch or something. And before the wildling could react, the beast had… done something. A sound unlike anything Tormund had heard before echoed from the beast and an arrow of light shot toward some poor sod.
Tormund then watched as the beast picked up the corpse and… ripped out its skeleton with its bare heads. Or were they claws, Tormund decided then and there to not have a drunken brawl with this thing. But all thoughts of the strange beast he had nearly vanished from his mind as he stared at the set of bones that had been pulled from the dead body. Entangled across it was glowing blue veins and pieces of blackened metal. The beast growled something more as it tossed the bizarre corpse to the ground. Then it looked at Tormund but the wildling could tell it wasn't at him but behind him. Slowly he looked over his shoulder and saw someone else creeping out from the trees. Her eyes glowing bright blue and what was more… her entire arm was nothing but bone and more of those glowing blue veins. Then came another, and another before a moment passed Tormund could see that they were being surrounded by these monstrous.
The wildling was about to turn back to the beast he had been fighting with when suddenly he felt something piece his neck. It felt too small to be an arrow and then a second later he felt… better? He felt stronger as he suddenly a flush of energy and strength invigorated his body. Damn, he felt like he could take on an entire tribe of Thenns all on his own! While in the middle of his incredible discovery of strength, Tormund found the giant sword that the beast was carrying dumped into his arms, and he could actually lift it! Tormund looked up and saw the beast looking down at him, its face completely unreadable to Tormund but he got the message. Time to fight their way out together.
"Oh… much better than the bear story." He said as a wide smirk grew as the dead began to swarm them.
Pierce was screwed, he knew that this was going to end horribly. It had been several days since Jaesa first showed up at his door and they had sex, at first he just thought that this was normal Jaesa. Loose and slutty Jaesa who slept, and usually killed, nearly every man she could get her hands on. But when he asked around his men, he found that no one had been reported missing and that the only sex they were getting was either from their wives, whores or both. He also had learned that infidelity was starting to have less and less taboo to it… all thanks to the damn preaching lady.
But he wasn't thinking about that right now. As he was walking toward a meeting Naraiz called for all his advisers and upper staff, he knew that he wouldn't be able to hide from his boss. Not the fact he slept with Jaesa or the fact he was still sleeping with her. Because every night since the first Jaesa had shown up and demanded that they fuck. Again, Pierce just thought that this was normal Jaesa and she had gotten sick of the guys around here so she turned to a fine imperial man like himself. He always knew that his people were great in the sack. But then the dread and facts started mounting as he continued to do the same to Jaesa.
"That bitch really should have told me she and Naraiz were on a break… I really don't like the idea of me cucking the most powerful Sith in the galaxy." Pierce grumbled to himself in the safety of his mind… though he knew that wasn't the truest statement given he was trying to hide his feelings from a Force User. His only hope was to try and do what Vette did, mask the true emotions with other ones. What was getting him pissed and worried before? Oh right… the Red Woman.
The priestess had been spreading her new creed all throughout the growing city and among the Essosi it was gaining steam like no one business. Melisandre already had a mark of authority among them being a former Priestess of the Lord of Light, a faith respected in Essos so she was religious with them. And the fact she didn't deny any god in her new faith helped with everyone. She had some support among the people of these lands, mostly those that saw her preaching as the preaching of the faith of the Sith. Those had been the ones that were most devoted to Naraiz and his lifting the Curse of Harrenhal. Pierce also suspected the markings on her face were some sort of Sith Runes. He had been working under a master of the craft long enough to have a vague recognition of them or at least their style.
It wasn't like he disliked what she was doing, it was her personally and the fact he saw all religion as dangerous that set him off. It was a very Imperial thing to hate religion, they were a people of atheists and people of science. They admitted that the Force was real and had a mystic quality to it but they also believed that it was still rooted in the physical world. And the Red Woman's Natural Order felt more and more like a tool to socially condition people than any real faith, that's at least what Pierce thought of it. To make them more open to the Sith, make them more willing to serve them dutifully and without question. Also for some reason break down any moral qualms about sex. That was being thrown in there too and he could only guess that she was doing that in the hopes that Naraiz would be pleased by that. He would be too…
Pierce worked himself a bit, getting angry at the Red Woman for manipulating people like the way she was. Preaching about all gods being real and other such nonsense. He had done a decent job distracting himself from the stuff going on with Jaesa as he entered the main chambers where Naraiz called his meetings.
Sans Naraiz himself, Pierce was the last one to show up. He quickly took his spot next to Quinn at a large V shaped table that Naraiz had commissioned, the tip being flat so Naraiz could sit at the head. One side had him, Quinn, Rathari, and a woman that disturbingly looked like Vette but without the head tails and light brown skin instead of red. Pierce stared at the woman and she nodded with a smile. Pierce sighed and hoped that her showing up would distract Naraiz. On the other side of the table was Qyburn, Melisandre, Serona, and the Head teacher of the kids; an Essosi man by the name of Hakhiz. He was an elderly man with white hair and clearly in his latter years, but from what Pierce heard was had a mind as sharp as a blade. It was obvious how this table set up was arranged, those that had Naraiz's true trust on one side and those he considered useful but at the same time still needed to be watched on the other.
Then the doors opened and Naraiz, Lady Stark and her handmaid all walked into the chamber. Pierce steeled his mind and tried to keep his mind on how irritated he was at the nearby holy woman. He glanced back between her and Naraiz. He was looking slightly bored but at the same time Pierce had known him long enough to know he was very much active right now. Pierce and Quinn liked to call this his autopilot. He would listen and barely pay attention but the second he heard or sensed something important he would be all over it. Pierce actually hadn't seen Naraiz do this in while now that he thought about it. He had either been totally focused or not there at all, if Pierce wasn't so screwed he would be happy for this return to a middle ground.
"First off, for those that don't know Lady Stark will be sitting in on our meetings as is due to a respected member of one of the Great Houses of Westeros." Naraiz said as he took the top seat of the V while Lady Stark took one of the ends. Pierce noted that it was on his side of the table. He might be just a soldier but he wasn't dumb. "Secondly I would like to introduce you all to our new member, Vette here will be working with the people of Harrenhal and act as their representative. She will gather their thoughts, questions, requests and then dump the dumb ones and bring us the general atmosphere of how the people feel." He said as he leaned back in his seat, he always took the same pose and seemed mildly amused by it.
"Thanks, I look forward to working with everyone." Vette chirped and Pierce did have to feel a bit safer with a trusted comrade here. Though… it made him wonder who was keeping Broonmark under control? Pierce however waved off those concerns as the Talz was far up north and he was sure Naraiz would give the psycho some orders to follow.
"Next, before we get to everyone's reports… Pierce what the fuck?" Naraiz didn't exactly shout but it was loud enough to get everyone to stare right at him. "Why are you reeking of guilt and fear?" Pierce was sweating right now, the jig was up and either these were his last moments or he was going to wish they were. But just as he opened his mouth to try and defend himself and say it was all Jaesa's idea Naraiz spoke again. "Scratch that, I don't care."
"My lord?" Several people asked, including Pierce. This was different. The way Naraiz was talking was more like a Nar Shadda dockyard foreman… at least that's what it sounded like to Pierce.
"Listen, all I really care about is three things. Pierce… are you touching the younglings?" He felt a shot of disgust shot through him at the idea and he vigorously shook his head. "Are you selling our secrets?" Pierce again shook his head and that's when Naraiz leaned forward and stared dead into his eyes. This was it. This was when he was screwing around with one of his women. "Is there a betting pool I'm not part of?" It took several seconds for Pierce's brain to reboot after that.
"Uh… no my lord. I believe I have gotten your bets in all the current pools." Pierce watched as the most powerful man in the galaxy visibly relaxed. Was he really doing this? Cucking the man who had killed the Sith Emperor and fucked more married women then there were fat rolls on a Hutt? This had to be a trick. Though was it even cuckinghim if him and Jaesa weren't a thing right now?
"Then get over it. Whatever it is you're doing I don't really care and it's your personal drama to deal with. My advice Pierce, if it's a woman just talk to her. Trust when I say that it will make you feel a billion times better." He might actually just do that. Pierce wanted to find the humor in this ridiculous situation but he was too scared to do it. "Now, on to business. Everyone give their reports." Naraiz said as he first turned to Qyburn.
"The Industrial District of the city is gaining traction my lord. The first large scale looms are being built. Soon enough will begin producing clothing at large scale, the workers are very interested in this denim idea you have given them." Qyburn said before going on about the many other technological projects that he was working on. Everything from the steam engine, the printing press, to more industrial machines, cement, and lastly a network of gas lamps all throughout the city. Pierce understood what Naraiz was doing, setting off an Industrial Revolution here in Westeros. Pierce had studied human world development in his Imperial Officer Academy days as an elective because it seemed interesting. And he could see all the tell-tale signs of Naraiz's efforts to speed up the process.
"Very good, but I still think you could make WildFire a supercharger." Naraiz said and everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats at this suggestion that he just kept making. Vette looked a little clueless and Qyburn still looked very interested in the idea. But Pierce knew that Quinn was shooting that idea down behind their lord's back. "Next up, Quinn. How is the rest of the city coming along?"
"We are still dismantling two of the five towers, but we are already beginning to run into the prospect of running out of stone from them. We will need to seek other sources soon enough. Beyond that, we are on our projected timeline, about ten percent of the initial first phase of the city is done." Quinn explained and Pierce felt proud at what they were doing. He heard constantly from his men about how they felt like they were a part of history being made. While Pierce knew that there was a galaxy out there to be taken for the Empire, this one city on this feudal world was starting to feel as big as a world out there for him. He wouldn't actually mind if Naraiz would let him stick around even after the ship was finished. "If the cement project comes to fruition then I believe that would help our plans immeasurably."
"Noted, Qyburn… the steam engine and printing press are still top priority but make cement the third priority." Naraiz said as he turned back to Qyburn and then glanced at Hakhiz. "Old man… tell me something good." Naraiz said in an excited joyful tone, Pierce always found it strange why his boss had such a fondness for the old man. Said older man chuckled a bit before slowly pulling up a bound book of all the students.
"We uh… have fully cataloged all of the students. Their natural talents, their dispositions and their goals. Along with their ability to learn, I am happy to report that most of them are of quite keen mind. Even if some of them are the keen mind of a bear or boar." He added on with a chuckle. Pierce had to give Hakhiz credit. He himself had watched over the kids as they trained with swords, spears, shields, all sorts of weapons so he had some idea of just who was who. Naraiz had ordered Pierce to train every child in the weapon that they much preferred. And from all that time with them he had gotten a feel for them. They were all a capable and prospective bunch. "Though as you expected my lord, the children have begun to group together into factions among themselves."
"That's fine, if it starts to devolve into something wild I'll step in and start… doing things." Pierce felt a chill run down his spine as he heard Naraiz say that extremely cryptically. This would be the part where Naraiz would normally look to Rathari and ask him about some Force related business but this time he just skipped over his fellow Sith and looked to Pierce. "How the men doing Pierce, they are grumbling again?"
"No my lord, the men are in high spirits and are trained with all the discipline I can beat into them." Pierce said, trying to give an answer that he had given several times before. The city guard were indeed doing just fine. They liked their new uniforms, liked the new moniker or the Black Cloaks. And were keeping the streets clean and free of crime. One might think that it was impossible for any city to be free of crime. That was until you took in the fact that a large part of the population used to be slaves and would turn in any of their own to avoid angering the man that had freed them. Then on the Westerosi side, they were still super grateful for freeing their lands from being cursed. And given the huge amount of jobs that were being filled, no one had the need to turn to crime to feed their family.
"Yippee." Naraiz lazily said as he turned his head once again, this time focusing on Melisandre. "Mel… what havoc have you wrought this time?" Naraiz groaned as many others braced themselves for whatever trouble the Red Woman had pulled himself into.
"Well my lord, I have been collecting donations for a place of gathering for the followers of the Natural Order. There we may distribute the teachings of the Natural Order, hold community meetings, weekly orgies…"
"Sold! Keep up the good work!" Pierce and several others groaned, this was how The Red Woman was able to keep her seat at the table. Because while they all knew that Naraiz found her annoying and seemed to be utterly immune to her gorgeous good looks, he wasn't so immune to her efforts to erode moral prudishness in his people. As he himself couldn't be seen openly putting out that sex was just sex or that lust wasn't a sin like Melisandre was currently doing, that would invite a bloodbath of criticism from all over the Seven Kingdoms.
The rest of the meeting went by with the various people there discussing their plans and how it involved the others. Naraiz drifted in and out, not really paying much attention other than the bare minimum. But that was fine to Pierce as he was trying to avoid as much attention as possible. And in keeping with this he made sure not to be the first one out of the meeting hall once it was all done. That would be Naraiz and then Lady Stark and her handmaid. Pierce left alone and began his way toward his quarters, hoping to find Jaesa there so he could get some answers.
"You seriously just left me like that, not even a hello nice to see ya?" Pierce stopped before turning back to see Vette standing behind him, smiling brightly. He had missed the Twi'lek if for nothing else for how she could be in such a great mood all the time. Really helped with the gloom that followed their work. Though it was a little weird seeing her as a human.
"Sorry Vette, I have a lot on my mind right now." Pierce answered back but Vette frowned slightly and looked at him intently. He forgot he shouldn't let his guard down around anyone. Vette might not have the Force but she knew how to read people.
"Yeah, I could see that back there. Now I know that the boss doesn't care about whatever it is that's making you look so bad but I do." Vette said, stamping her foot down, she had that look on her face that Pierce knew was all about her caring way too much about her friends to just let matters drop.
"Okay fine, something's going but just don't tell Naraiz. I got things handled." Pierce said just trying to keep Vette from figuring anything out.
"Don't tell Naraiz, I can't promise that until you tell me what it is. Spill, tell me everything. You can't get better until you admit you have a problem." Pierce groaned as if she wasn't the cute Twi'lek girl that she normally looked like she still was as adorable as a kitten. And he damn well she knew how she came off and played into it. While she didn't like Naraiz being all evil, Pierce knew that she had some of that swimming in her blood too. "Come on Pierce, you can trust me."
"I do but… this the kind of thing that could get me killed if not handled right." Pierce looked over his shoulder, the feeling of dread creeping up on him more and more. He had to think about who he was talking to here. This was Vette, the person that he considered to be the person that Naraiz trusted above everyone else. But he also knew that she understood Naraiz better than anyone else and knew that sometimes keeping things from him was for the best. "I… I might have slept with Jaesa."
"That's it?" She said before shoving Pierce a little. "That's nothing, Jaesa sleeps with everyone. She's a slut… that's what they do~." Vette said looking visibly disappointed in what he had said. But he really wished that was the end of it.
"It wasn't just one time, it started four day ago when she just showed up at my door and ordered me to have sex with her." Pierce didn't notice in the middle of his explanation but Vette froze up when he gave her that timeframe. "Then she came back every night since then. No one has been reported missing in that time and I've asked around, she's only been with me. What's more is that I know that she and Naraiz are fighting right now, I don't; want to end up dead because I'm just some rebound guy."
"I fucked up." Vette quietly mumbled to herself and Pierce barely heard her.
"What was that?" he asked and the woman fidgeted a bit as she started to think on the information that she had been given.
"I… might have slept with Naraiz four days ago. It wasn't just sex, it was… we really had our moment Pierce and I think Jaesa might have had an empath experience from it." Vette explained as she pictured it out in her mind. She and Naraiz had their talk and then first time together, Jaesa was nearby or maybe even listening in on them and felt all those emotions. Jaesa being who she was and her relationship with Naraiz being what it was caused her to get angry, jealous, and betrayed, sought to get back at Naraiz. "Listen, I won't tell Naraiz about this but you really need to talk with Jaesa about this. She's in a really confusing place right now and I'm pretty sure you're the only person she has any trust with right now."
"Y-you really think so?" Pierce said feeling a large weight lift off his shoulders. But then it came right back as he saw Vette smirk at him.
"Oh, you like that don't you?" Vette said as she started to drift away from the problem at hand. "Pierce, do you like Jaesa? Have a thing for the wild ones do ya?" Vette pounced like a cat finding a new toy and Pierce really wished that she could be a little more focused on the main issue here.
"I led a very different life before the army took me, can we just leave it at that please." Pierce said and Vette giggled a bit but even as she was practically bouncing with excitement she was returning to what really mattered in the moment. "I promise to talk to Jaesa. I'll sort this out, just keep Naraiz distracted for now." Pierce turned back around, a little faster in his walk back to his room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Nope… screaming for extended periods of time do not increase power. You lied to me Goku!" I shouted into the air as I finished another one of my nerd tests. Super Saiyan was not on the table… yet. But I had started gaining progress on energy beams like in Dragon Ball. It was just a super, heh, more advanced version of Force Lightning. But that was just one of the many many projects that I had been conducting.
"Did you really think that would work?" Vette asked from her spot on a blanket as Saarai prepaid our lunch. Thankfully the Tsân had changed her entire mood toward Vette after our renewed relationship status. And now me and the Twi'lek were having a picnic out in the grassy sea that was the lands that surrounded Old Town. It was still winter so if I wanted to have a picnic I had to leave the comfort of my own lands. Plus if one of my tests worked I didn't want my own lands to be busted up when I played with my new toy.
"I hoped it would." I said dejectedly before I held a hand that was aimed at the Hightower off in the distance. It could be so easy to fire off a energy beam and blow it the fuck up. Though with how unrefined the power was at the moment I'd likely take a good chunk of the city with it.
"Master! I'm bored! Why are we out here doing nothing when there's so much we could be doing?" Midwan whined and everyone ignored her childish pleas and in response she just began pouting that she was being ignored. I really should have left them back at the castle but I didn't feel willing to actually do any work. This was my date with Vette so I didn't want her to do any work for it so Saarai had to come, and her sister came because we found out that they can't be separated by a distance roughly two thirds of a mile.
With my failure to go blond I sulked back to the picnic blanket, as I sat down Midwan immediately came and draped herself on my back but I just ignored her However I could that this made Vette uneasy, both in that it was a display of another woman getting this close to me and just how well I was able to ignore it. The latter should come to no surprise to her.
"I guess I really just need to get used to seeing other women with you." Vette said before quickly taking a plate of sandwiches that Saarai made for the both of us… but whatever. Hungry… Saarai is a good cook… hungry. "But I knew that coming in, I just never pictured myself with someone I wasn't married to. Let alone not be the only woman with the man I loved."
"These two don't really count as people though." I dodged the slap to my head from Midwan and as expected Saarai just nodded in agreement. Tsân weren't people, they were literally just a physical embodiment of Force power of a Force User. They did not have independent urgency, they did not have dreams, goals, or needs beyond what their creators had. This wasn't just ego or pride talking, that was what they said themselves. The only one that seemed to be an exception to this was Macha… but I didn't want to think about that thing. "Tying oneself down to only loving another person is fine so long as you only love one other person. But trying to deny yourself if you find yourself loving another is illogical, or worse you force yourself to pick between them when you don't need to."
"It's talk like that that is pushing that preachy lady to do things like make orgy houses and try to change social sexual norms." Vette countered and I kept my mouth shut. I had said nothing to Melisandre about doing stuff like that. I'm guessing that the Whisper Rune is more working on what they might think I'd want. Seeing me be so loose with sexual beliefs is likely pushing Melisandre to preach a more sexual free lifestyle among the people. Though why do I get the feeling that's only the tip of the iceberg. Note to self, debate with myself to decide if a Slaaneshi cult is a good thing or not.
"Vette if you want to understand the very core of my morality then it is simple. Does this hurt someone else? If it doesn't then it's perfectly fine. If it does, then I begin to question if I should do it or not. The next question is Yes it hurts someone, do I give a shit about that person?" I say bluntly and I can tell that Vette is a little hurt by this but also happy that I do in fact have a moral code and it's one that at least takes into account other people to some extent. And I do care about a lot more people than you'd expect, I do care about the people that serve me, the people of Harrenhal and eventually the people of the Empire. But anyone else fuck them. I could virus bomb a city world and only probably not do it because that might be a bit much for the Balance in me to take. "So the way we make it so people are no longer hurt by sleeping around is to remove what makes this action hurt others. That is the idea of exclusivity, you remove that component and sex becomes something a person can engage in as just a pleasurable activity when in the company of someone a person feels nothing for."
"It would be pretty hard to change how people feel about this Naraiz. The idea of commitment isn't some droid part that can be replaced when you think you've found a better version." Vette countered but she wasn't denying the primary idea behind it. But I wasn't here to debate social dynamics and cultural norms. Melisandre was doing what she thought was right and the changes she was causing weren't going to be without a period of turmoil. However I only felt the need to get involved if it started to look like people were buckling under the clash of ideas. Non-monogamous centered societies have existed and have done well and poorly across the galaxy.
"Regardless of how well the concept works here or anywhere, it will be up to the people to decide if they like it or not. I like it, I don't think that an emotion as complex as love can be forced to be directed at a single target. The real question of all this is what are you going to do." I said and Vette stopped her eating her third plate of tiny sandwiches, Saarai damnit you knew that Vette was going to eat this much and yet you only brought this tiny fancy food?
"I guess seeing Lyarra and Joanna helped me see that it could have been me and Jaesa. We could have had Naraiz and maybe I could have broken through his shell if I had just accepted that he wasn't the type of man that can be tied down." Vette sighed and I had to agree with her. Not after his one attempt at exclusivity ended the way it did. With Satele cheating on him with that fucking asshole Jango Fett knock-off. Yeah after that he would not never try that again. "Why are you laughing?" We both looked at Midwan who was chuckling on my back.
"Just that phrase, a man that can't be tied down… ooh… it's so cheesy." She giggled as she slid down my back and started laughing a bit harder once she hit the ground. I sighed as I too felt the phrase, while accurate, was a bit over used for shallow dudes that just were afraid of commitment. I'm not afraid of it, I just see it as not as limiting as most people.
"With that, to a lighter topic?" Vette asked and I could sense that she was getting tired of the philosophy and kinda just wanted to talk about the cool shit from my old world. She's great. Just great. Should have brought her along down south a long time ago.
"Very good, I believe that with this we will be able to begin lessening the amount of funds we take from the crown." Xhola listened as her teacher, Maester Qyburn, spoke as they walked through the building that housed their first large scale loom system. The blacksmiths had been working day and night to make each piece of the giant machine. But with this they would begin producing clothes and giving hundreds of people jobs. In addition to her lessons on ravens she had also been given lessons on economics and finance. Her master had told her that plans had been accelerated and eventually ravens would become obsolete in the next twenty years. The idea that she would live that long was astonishing enough let alone the idea she would be still valued then.
"That will be a weight off my shoulders, we are perfectly able to feed our people but given the plans our lord has, that will not be enough." Governor Quinn sighed as he walked in pace with the Maester, she herself was behind them both. Making sure to pay attention to everything they said, they rarely noticed her now and often spoke as if they were alone. Though Xhola suspected that the Governor was doing that more because he was unafraid of saying something that upset her master.
All of the women that had come back with Darth Nagash still maintained complete loyalty to him. Xhola handled all of his personal letters as he had expected her to, anything directly addressed to him was brought to his desk or Saarai. She also listened and kept track of the Maester, it was her that told Darth Nagash about the relationship between him and the Governor, along with news that he had been to the graveyards several times. And she would continue to do so, because he was the one that had given her purpose again. Even if much of their carnal relationship had ceased she still was forever indebted to him.
It was not lost on all of them, the former slaves that Darth Nagash had taken for himself knew that they were not truly with their master. They were servants, well cared for and valued servants but servants nonetheless. For the Dothraki twins this was more than enough, they never expected marriage or even a true relationship from the man they considered Khal. They were happy to serve him and get occasional attention from him or one of his true wives. Serona on the other hand thought far too much of herself to be content where she was. But Xhola had the feeling she was beginning to look elsewhere, while still making sure to serve her master. She had been punished enough for that lesson to sink in. Then there was Melisandre and Vaera, Xhola had no idea just how they felt other than they felt like they had something to prove.
But as for herself, she wanted to serve her master but at the same time she couldn't help but feel a longing for something more present in her love life. She was now a free woman and she knew if she did find love her master would bless it in a heartbeat. He had told them as much on their trip to these lands. That his one rule was to never break apart real love. And she felt it was time, she knew her old life in the summer islands still held a chain around her heart but she was ready to be happy again.
"Xhola, you were lost, thought again girl." She blinked as the words of her teacher came through her skull. "Must have been pretty thoughts too, the smile you had was radiant." Maester Qyburn chuckled softly. He was kind to her, though he kept a small distance between them and she had a feeling his enjoyment of teaching her wasn't because of her. But she respected him as a kind and smart man.
"Sorry Maester." She said with a bow of her head.
"I have business with the stonemason guild, I'll expect to see the projections for next month on my desk." The Governor said dryly once the Maester and student were finished. The two men said their goodbyes then and the Imperial left. Xhola then watched as the Maester walked over to the silent machine that dominated the entire factory floor. It was a monstrous thing to the Summer Islander, a beast of metal and wood. Even though the Maester had explained the workings of it many times to her she still found it unnatural.
"The first steps of a new age. That is what this represents. Soon we will begin making enough garments for every man and woman in Westeros to have sturdy and comfortable clothing. Soon no one will have an excuse to wear rags." He chuckled as he ran a finger along one of the many gears of the machine. Xhola had heard him talk to himself many times, expressing great praise to the Sith for bringing these new and wonderful changes to this world. A world that had remained stagnant for far too long. "And this new age won't be brought on the back of mystic magic of Valyria but natural science. Engineering and chemistry, arts that don't need blood or sorcery. And all of it comes from the mind of a sorcerer."
Pierce sighed as he heard someone fall on their face outside his quarters. He had not found Jaesa in his place but expected her to continue the trend of showing up after sundown and shove him into his bed. But it looked like this time Jaesa had finally started to come to his quarters drunk. He looked around, made sure that the few items he had come to value while on this world were safely in a trunk, and went to the door. Opening it he found exactly what he expected, Jaesa at his door facedown with a shattered wine bottle in her hand.
"Pierce… you better be… oh fuck my head." Jaesa groaned and Pierce mentally made sure to never pay back Naraiz for any possible bar tab that he owed him. This was more than enough of payback. So the Imperial dragged the Sith into his place and sat her up on a chair, she had attempted to make out with him throughout the entire process but was too drunk to really succeed. "Wha… why aren't… fuck!" Jaesa shouted as she quickly sobered up after getting dosed with a bucket of cold water.
"Do I need to get another one or is life starting to make sense yet?" Pierce asked as he had several prepared. Water turned cold pretty fast in the winter and he liked having clean water right in his place as the plumbing here was awful. Jaesa however just grumbled a bit as she tried shaking the water off her body. "What the hell are you doing with me? I don't want to get in the middle of whatever it is that's going on between you and Naraiz."
"Nothing's going on, absolutely nothing." Jaesa responded before starting to pout.
"And is that the problem?" Fuck did he not want to deal with bullshit but he would need to if he wanted the feeling of a blade hanging over his neck to go away. Maybe it would be easier to just go to Naraiz and explain the situation to him. With Vette with him, between him and Naraiz.
"Yes! That fucking alien took off the second she saw a chance to beat me! It should have been me getting nice fucked- why the fuck did you do that!" Jaesa screamed as Pierce tossed a second bucket of water onto her.
"Because I don't care about who Naraiz is fucking, I just want to do my job and hit morons over the head. You are putting all that into question." Pierce bluntly said having grown very fed up with his lord's personal bullshit effecting his own livelihood. He guessed that this must be what a lot of officers and people had to go through in the Empire but he actually hadn't had this problem up until now. Sure, Naraiz had his mood swings but they never really made Pierce's life harder. "If you are pissed that Vette and Naraiz are fucking, why don't you just join them. Not like you never wanted that before."
"It's different now. You wouldn't understand." Jaesa crossed her arms and retreated back into the chair she was sitting in. Flashbacks of several of his previous girlfriends before he joined the military filled Pierce's mind as many of them acted like this when confronted with the source of their instability. He really had it bad for wild girls, they appealed to him as an escape from the order he tried to instill in his life.
"Then make me understand." Pierce remembered how Vette explained to him that right now the only one that Jaesa trusted was him. That meant that it was his responsibility to fix this and later demand Naraiz give him a massive raise for doing this.
"When the ship is done… I'm outta here." Jaesa said after a long pause for finally answering. Then looked up and stared Pierce dead in the eyes. "And I want you to come with me."
"What?"
"Think about it, with the two of us working together we can rule systems! Carve out a nice little corner of Hutt space all for ourselves." She said and before Pierce could even think to respond to that, Jaesa had jumped out of her chair and wrapped herself around Pierce's waist. "There won't be any Empire bullshit, just us and a crew of bastards ready to kill at our every order. Raiding the Republic and the Empire, it will be perfect. Naraiz won't touch us because of the dirt I got on him. Maybe I'll just let loose a few secrets for fun…" That was it, before Jaesa could even form a complete through, she found herself slammed to the ground. Pierce's forearm shoved onto her throat, an arm under her back and the other one clamped to the floor, both her legs firmly locked under the man's weight. She was utterly pinned and she knew it.
"You're angry, you feel like Naraiz, Vette, everyone has just abandoned you. Did they really, or did you just decide that because things didn't look quite like you liked that they had." Pierce had enough of Jaesa acting like a brat but now she was acting like a traitor. He suspected that she had some deal with Naraiz that would allow her to get away simply because she was smart enough to know that he would never let her go unless it was willingly. But talking about blackmailing him was too far, and he could tell that was only the start of it if he let it go on. "Think really hard here, do you really want me? Or I'm I just a stand-in? Because that's how I feel here, not a feeling I'm unused to believe it or not. You need to make a choice, you do… not have me make it for you, not follow what you think Naraiz wants, choose your own fate for the first time in your life." Pierce said before getting off Jaesa, never noticing the menacing tentacle monster that had begun to fade into existence but then vanished as he started his short speech. "Now please get out."
"So… she turns into a giant wolf woman and then runs out into the woods and hunts stags and bears." I examined the collar around Lyarra's neck as I muttered to myself more than anything. Myself, Lyarra, and Joanna were all sitting on my bed, naked, and we finally had gotten all this pent up longing for each other out of our systems. Now we were getting into some of the other important things that needed to actually be talked about. They had already told me about how they tricked Rickard, nice… nice. And their plans with the various Houses in the North. All really good as the stronger the North is the better for all of my plans.
"Yes, it first happened when we learned what Winterfell's previous Maester was planning." Joanna explained as she lounged about on my bed, enjoying her post sex glow. She more so than Lyarra was the most hungry for sex. Most of the time Lyarra just wanted a moderate amount of fucking and then to just sleep in my arms. Joanna on the other hand had been insatiable, taking both me and Midwan to tire her out. "She's also constantly ready to take a nap, as ready to blow up as Wild Fire when it comes to threats to either you or her children, and has told the kitchens over and over again to cook her meat less and less rare."
"So… taking out the sleepy thing, becoming more wolf-like." I focused on the rune matrix that handled biological changes to the wearer. It did indeed have something of a prolonged extended effect but it stopped at a certain point. Good, there's a level of animal-like traits before things get too close to furry territory. Physically the only things that had changed was her tail and ears, perfectly acceptable. Personality wise, that's mostly because this was my first collar and I was drunk on the Dark Side. Joanna shouldn't experience the level of change I'm seeing with Lyarra, or any others I collar for that matter. But just to make sure. "Have you started acting more cat like at all?" I asked as I turned Lyarra's neck to a series of Runes that I'm pretty sure are responsible for the whole werewolf thing.
"Mmm… not really." Joanna shrugged but Lyarra giggled at the statement.
"She really likes fish now." As if to prove a point, at the mere mention of fish Joanna's cat ears twitched excitedly. Oh fuck me… how deep does this ritual go into my mind? These collars are supposed to turn a person into the master's version of themselves they want most. When done soberly as in the case of Joanna there's less chance of things getting too stupid. But… maybe that's only on major personality shifts like what happened with Lyarra. "And she really likes getting out of bed at night and sleeping by a fire."
"It's freezing cold in Winterfell, its winter!" Joanna defended and I started wondering how long until she started ending her sentences with nya. I need to get back to Anoat now, grab the tome or whatever that has the collar ritual and see just how deep the meme is going to go with these two. I don't like not knowing about my own Sith shit. Damn… maybe I should have asked God to make me the Sith Inquisitor instead of Sith Warrior… no… Naraiz's memories of Nox ruining that idea for me.
"Might be the beginning stages might be the last of the changes." I say with a sigh before leaving Lyarra's neck alone. I sit back and begin thinking about what I have seen and what I do know about the collars. The two components here is my subconscious desires… which are nerdy as fuck. And the Dark Side's desire to twist whatever it gets involved in. "But for Lyarra the whole turning into a monster wolf woman is likely just a… oh do I put this." The words struggled to come to me to put in terms they would understand. For me the comparison was the collar taking the very base idea of the biological changes and temporarily getting rid of the idea of just a little bit. Essentially forcing a sudden evolution of the logical end result of the mutations done to the wearer of the collar. I could see the original Sith that made this ritual making this part of the collar as a sort of defensive failsafe or surprise for anyone attacking their slaves. "The main point is that she's not going to turn into that form permanently. However I would say that you need to gain some control over it."
"Control it, how could I control something I barely even can recall doing?" Lyarra asked and I just shrugged. How was I supposed to give any advice to a werewolf on getting into with their inner wolf? Oh god I fucking hate myself.
"Maybe try…" I stopped as my Holo-communicator started beeping. Vette was still here, I think out in the city getting to know the locals. Please don't start any gangs in my city Vette. Jaesa is… I don't know. So that only leaves… "What does my yeti want?" I mumbled as I floated my Holo-communicator over to my bed and snapped it on. Lyarra and Joanna both watched with rapt attention as they always did when I showed them galaxy tech.
"-Sith, we have something.-" Broonmark said as he flashed into my hand. I narrowed my eyes as he was covered in blood and had a severed arm in his free hand. The blood was normal but the hand wasn't. It looked… odd.
"-Ey, what are you doin'… what's that?!-" Aw, Broonmark made a friend. The projection scrambled a bit until it showed a human face smashing into the detector lens creating a massive floating head in my hand. It was annoying dealing with people that didn't know how to properly handle these things.
"-Sit back down redhaired whelp, we are speaking to Sith.-" Broonmark growled as he took the holo-communicator away from the wildling. I heard grumbling in the background and was surprised that this human was already starting to get an idea of what a Talz was saying. Talzzi was a difficult language to learn but one that you could learn if you spent enough time with a Talz. But even then you mostly just were able to understand the meaning behind the growls, chirps, and buzzes. Though with Broonmark it was mostly just growls as I was pretty sure he spoke a bastardized version of his native tongue. When Vette tried to speak Talzzi in front of other Talz to show off what she had learned with Broonmark… the reaction wasn't kind. "-Sith. We have made a basecamp in the lands beyond the Wall. Before we could begin operations on the humans here, strange dead things with droid parts in them started attacking. Also this redhaired human won't stop bothering us. Change the bet.-''
"Dead humans with droid parts… now I know what those True Followers that abandoned me got up to." I mumbled and now I had two possibilities. Either the Others were the rebellious True Followers that abandoned Valyria or the two groups were working with each other. Honestly it was a fifty-fifty shot of either being true. I would prefer it being the latter as then I could maybe divide them and maybe snag one of them for myself. "Broonmark, you have new orders. Investigate these… whatever they are. The bet remains as stated prior." I watched as Broonmark's shoulders slumped at learning he couldn't kill his new friend. The connection was then dropped and I chuckled, it's about damn time the dead made their appearance. "Saarai!"
"Yes Naraiz-sama?" The Tsân appeared as called next to my bed.
"Inform Rathari of a meeting tonight. New developments in the North and a new sense of urgency to get out into the galaxy are changing some of my plans."
A year had passed, an entire year since I returned to Westeros with my ships of former slaves. A little under a year since the droids began their repairs on my ship. A ship I now stood before, it looked far from perfect, but it was space worthy. Not much had happened in the time, the many Acolytes had been sorted into their sects… not that matter much since they were still only Acolytes and thus not really ready to be truly aligned with either the Dark or Light Side. Lyarra and Joanna returned to Winterfell and I finally started making good on my promise to visit in secret. Things with Vette were great… though she really started taking after Joanna once she built up a bit of skill in the bedroom. But I expected that. Melisandre was doing her thing… a little too well for some but whatever.
Harrenhal was coming around as a city. More and more people started showing up, hoping to make their mark on a newly founded city. And thanks to our new booming industrial district we were able to get all of them jobs and avoided a serious homeless and vagrant problem. The textile industry was really getting off, soon… soon shall I get to see the glory of my girls in skinny jeans. Which was my entire reason for choosing textiles as the first industry to bring to Westeros. Next will be steel and railroads.
But that was planetside, I now had access to the rest of the galaxy as now my ship was fixed up and ready to be taken into orbit. First stop would be my world of Anoat, a world that held my primary, and very secret, home. It was there that much of Naraiz's collections and libraries were kept. Just waiting for me to take and use to my heart's content. Then to Dromund Kaas to see exactly how best to convince the imperial population to join my cause. Then to some of those secret Black Sites that Marr and Satele had shown me. Much to do.
"So I shall be staying here then?" Rathari asked as he walked up to my side. I had brought him and Vette up to the North to where my ship was. Jaesa was already here. Soon after Vette arrived in Harrenhal Jaesa had vanished and turned up at the ship camp and that's where she had been since then. Which was fine, isolation for a Force User could do wonders… or create utter monsters.
"Yes old friend, you will be here masquerading as me while I'm away." He had Vette's holo-projector and so could take on my appearance. Though it was still a holo-projection and not foolproof. I already crafted an image as a man not often seen by his servants or people, so it wouldn't be too strange for people to only see my appearance when only absolutely needed. "Depending on where in the Galaxy we are, at worst I'll be gone a month and at best a week."
"Good luck to you then. Hopefully things won't be too exciting while you're gone." They shouldn't be, nothing was to happen in Westeros in the current timeline until later this year with the Tourney at Lannisport. And even that's not too important. Wishing that and a shake of hands, Rathari started back toward my speeder and was off. My smile then faded and I looked to the ramp leading up to my ship, and more accurately… the woman standing in it.
"So… what's it going to be?"